Verrail Shang

Subject: Verrail Shang Thu May 24, 2012 2:26 pm

|BASICS|

Name: Verrail Shang
Age: 28
Birthplace: Fire Nation Capital
Current Residence: Dark Nation
Rank: Bender, Fire Nation nobility, Colonel of the Vermilion Dragon Imperial Army
Element: Fire, Lightning

Pets: His stallion "Storm", will get his own thread

Weapons:
A curved longsword by the name of "Bluetongue" that his brother gave him when he became a Lieutenant, with a very fine blade, mostly to enforce his bending with it. The hilt of the sword has some very fine golden inlays, and at the end of the hilt, there sits a saphire the size of a walnut. Silvery inlays on the blade show the dragon of the House Shang on the one side of the blade, and the polardog on the other side.

Family:

|OPTIONAL|

Birthday: 17th July
Blood type: AB-
Hobbies: reading and writing poetry, playing pai sho, drawing/sketching, fire bending practice, horseback-riding

Quirks:
Verrail carries a set of small, horizontally running burning scars alongside his right thorax, as if small streams of fire had touched him while he tried to evade them and moved in a circular way.
Like most of the Shangs, he has a rather trained, broad figure and still strangely catlike movements. Also he has deep blue eyes, like his mother, who is from the Southern Water Tribe.

Character Theme: Unstoppable - E.S. Posthumus

|APPEARANCE|

Hair: He wears his deep black hair long, tied to a ponytail in action, but open on most other occasions. It shows almost no waves, being close to completely straight.
His luxuriant beard is always very well trimmed. Verrail is a man who takes care of his appearance and knows of the power of a strong demeanour, and that shows in his always well tended hair and beard.

Eyes: Like his mother, Verrail has piercing eyes of the deepest, clearest blue. They seem to be able to go right through his opponent at times, but they can also sparkle with amusement. There is not too much warmth in there, though, like many people of the water tribe, Verrail has clear, rather cool eyes, more ice than fire.

Height: Verrail is the shortest of his set of brothers, but he is still rather tall, all Shang men are. He stands at 1,85m and with that has the average of a fire nation soldier.

Clothes:
Verrail likes expensive, beautiful garments. He likes to take care of his appearance, to appear as a sophisticated, cultivated, still young man.

On duty, he proudly either wears shining armour (in battle) or the typical, red, gold and black garments of the Fire Nation Army with the badges of a Colonel. Off duty however, he prefers light garments of silk and linnen. He has good taste, but he is no dandy, his family would never allow that and he has too much style for that.

Skin:
Verrail has clear, but rough skin due to his serving in the military and spending a lot of time outside. Besides the five burning scars that go over the right side of his thorax in a horizontal way, he has no outstanding scarring. The one or other small cut or bruise is still always there, since he trains a lot. His hands are rough, used to fighting with his hand-and-a-half sword, and the inner sides of his thighs show that he is a skilled horseman, being as rough as saddle leather.

Body Type:
Verrail might be smaller than his brothers Rozan and Terzan and even smaller than his brother Nuran, who has not chosen a military career, but he for sure is broader than they all are. His shoulders tell from the extraordinary strength he has, despite his lack of height - compared to his tall brothers.
He is very well trained, with a slim waist, strong legs and back, and even stronger arms. Like most of the Shang family members, he moves very agile, somehow cat-like, and smooth.

Image:
Verrail Shang Knight12

|CHARACTERISTICS|

Personality:
Verrail is a calm, self-controlled man. He likes to think rational, tactical, but although he enjoys the art of a soldier, he is also very enthusiastic about the polite arts. He has a good way around society, being a very diplomatic man, and other than his brother Rozan, he knows when to keep his mouth shut, or just smile, nod, and leave.

However, he is also a very passionate person. He has lost his first love to another man, when he lost an agni kai as a youth, and he has never quite recovered. The shame faded with his military honours increasing, but the pain of love never vanished. He sometimes sees a woman he might be interested in, but he only takes those women to his bed whom he has absolutely no feelings for. The ones who are interesting or intriguing to him he evades, careful to not be hurt again. Also he sometimes loses his confidence when around a very interesting, beautiful woman.

He loves with passion, and had he an enemy, he would also hate with passion. Sometimes the intensity of his feelings clouds his judgement. Other than the waterbender his mother is, Verrail can not use his emotions to make his bending stronger, he is rather held back by them. The turmoil of fire and water in the lines of heritage show in Verrail like in any of the Shang children.

Verrail also can be quite charismatic, making him a good leader, and although he sometimes loses sight of the one man due to keeping control over the bigger picture, he cares for his men. Other than Rozan, he does not socialize with them in a manner not appropriate for a nobleman, but he does communicate with them, listens to their problems and gives them the feeling that their commanding officer is one of them.

Personal Strengths:
Good leader, decent drawer, very self-controlled, good fighter, good taste when it comes to appearances, very loyal

Personal Weaknesses:
Sometimes too passionate, can lose his calmth on behalf of his feelings; sometimes loses the touch with the individuals under his command due to looking at the bigger picture too intensely, afraid to fall in love again and therefore shuts himself off from women he might care about, can lay too much weight on appearances rather than looking at the actual virtues, sometimes a lack of compassion

Personal Hero: his father, the Fire Lord / Vermilion Dragon Emperor Owlan Ezofuji, General Cao Cao (Army)

Dreams and Ambitions:
Become a General of the Fire Nation Army, and bring a lot of honour and power to his country and his family

Likes:

his family members, even Rozan, with whom he often disagrees
a nice garment and the feeling of being clean and orderly
being in the military: honour, fighting, strength and courage
to look at a beautiful woman, even if he won't dare to talk to her
the polite arts: music, poetry, pai sho, and paintings

Dislikes:

The feeling of guilt he has towards Rozan for getting his brother severly burnt these many years past and therefore getting him afraid of fire, his natural element
being pushed into a corner
not being taken seriously, being treated as if he had no honour because of the agni kai he lost
disorder, disloyalty, dishonour, cowardice
spinach - he never liked that vegetable

Brief History:

Unlike most of his siblings, Verrail was born in the Fire Nation Capitol, not in the family's estate on Ember Island. He was a healthy, strong baby, and never gave his family cause to be worried about his well-being. As a young child, he begged and pleaded in order to be allowed to attend his elder brothers' classes with their private teachers, only to be shut down since he was but four years old, too young for training in politics. But he insisted, stubborn like a mule, and finally he was allowed to get his own teacher two years early, learning how to read and write within a very short time.

But he soon got bored with the books he had pleaded to get, and realized that outside, behind the gardens, lay the training grounds of his family. Whilst the few water benders, his mother and elder brother Nuran, practiced their bending skills in the small lake of the garden (more likely a park) that lay right behind the family estate in the Capitol, the firebenders, his father and his brother Terzan, trained together with the Shang's private guard in the arena their forefathers had built and blackened with dragonfire.

His sister, Goralia, who was three years his elder, was discovered to be a firebender when she was ten years old, and after a lengthy discussion her parents decided that she should at least get to know the basics of training. Only two weeks after her, Verrail showed his very own potential and proved to be a promising young firebender, just like his father had once been. Once more, the lineage of fire had succeeded over the heritage of water within one of the Shang children.
Verrail, as a boy, needn't beg long. He was taken to practice as soon as his skill was discovered, and mastered the art of firebending over the next fourteen years - at the age of 18, he started to work not only with flames, but also with lightning, and at the age of 21 he was a master himself.

When Verrail was but fifteen years old, his father suddenly died. All the burden of being the head of the family was put on his elder brother Terzan's shoulders over night, although Terzan himself was no older than 22 years, a promising young captain of the fire nation army. Terzan had to quit his military service in order to focus on his many new tasks, and Verrail knew instinctively, that he would regret this step for the rest of his life.
While he was still living at home, Verrail tried to be the perfect young man, to please his grieving mother and to help out his elder brother whereever he could. Other than his younger brother Rozan, who was just ten years old, he did not grow into a rebel, but into the perfect little nobleman.

Until one day, two years later, he saw her. She was just beautiful, visiting the Fire Nation together with her father, who was an embassador from the Earth Kingdom. She, like Verrail, was nobility, sixteen years old, a flower still not fully blossomed. And she probably was the love of his life.

Her name was Arania, as he learned some weeks later when he saw her again on a banquette, Arania Zunjari. Her family was slightly less important than the Shang family, and not half as old, but she still would have been a suitable match, especially since Verrail was only the third son, and not heir to the title of his deceased father.

Arania noticed well enough that the Shang boy was watching her, trying to flirt with her, but she was not really interested in him. However, he bought her gifts, he was sweet in a way, and she enjoyed his huge crush on her, since it made her feel worthwhile. But then another came along, as noble as Verrail, but eight years older than him. She accepted his courting just like she had accepted Verrail's, and enjoyed the intimacy of both men as long as she could get it.
Then, one day, Verrail asked her to marry him, and she told him that she was almost betrothed to Jaqen Torkin, Verrail's rival. Furious, Verrail looked out for Jaqen and challenged him to an agni kai in order to decide who would have Arania's hand in marriage - she never told him that she had already chosen for herself.

Needlessly to say, that Verrail's family was not at all pleased with his rash action. His opponent, an honourable man, gave him the opportunity to withdraw, but Verrail, who had just been admitted to the higher ranks of the Fire Nation Army, could not possibly endure that dishonour. So the agni kai was fought out.
During the fight, Verrail's fourteen year old brother Rozan was wounded by a redirected trail of fire, and almost died of the injuries he suffered. Verrail, on top of that, lost the fight against his opponent, who was older than him and had already mastered the art of fire bending, bringing destruction and shame onto his family.

Graciously, Jaqen Torkin let Verrail Shang live, in order to not take two sons away from their mother on just one day. Thereby, although it was kindly intended, he scarred Verrail's honour for life.
Thanks to Eleynja Shang's healing powers, Rozan recovered after some time, but he was scarred for life and, even worse, dead afraid of his own bending element, fire. On top of the shame he had brought upon his family, Verrail felt a new shame, the shame about hurting a loved one for nothing at all.

He concentrated on climbing the ladder in the military, trying to recover what he had taken from his family, and bring new honour to them and his country. The passionate, quick-minded boy grew into a fierce, willfull and cold-hearted warrior, probably the personal hero of many a fire nation soldier, since he risked his life willingly to save others, but also feared and respected for his stern and stubborn reputation.

Subject: Re: Verrail Shang Thu May 24, 2012 3:21 pm

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