PineApocalypse
Elite Beginner
Posts : 124
Age : 1008
Join date : 2013-07-02
 |  Subject: Zesh Suasen  Thu Jul 11, 2013 11:48 pm | |
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|BASICS|
Name: Zesh Suasen
Age: 52 (post-time skip)
Birthplace: Northern Water Tribe
Current Residence: technically the Northern Water Tribe but he’s rarely at his residence.
Rank: Non-Bender
Occupation: travelling teacher/doctor
Element: Nothing.
Pets: None
Weapons: knowledge
|OPTIONAL|
Birthday: 685A0
Blood type: O-
Hobbies: knowledge, its acquisition and its transmission are what Zesh literally lives for.
Quirks: a very deep love of cheese.
Family: His mother Sultril and his father Taranek are both still alive and aged 83 and 86 years old respectively. He also has a younger sister named Arelia aged 44. He also has a brother in law, named Kagoran aged 46 and a nephew and godson named Lusosie aged 17.
Character Theme: Emmenez Moi-Charles Aznavour
|APPEARANCE|
Hair: Zesh is bald. His hair started falling out in his late twenties and as soon as it did he decided to cut it all off and get it over with. His chin is covered by a full beard which reached down to his mid-neck at its longest point. The beard is rarely brushed and so it keeps a dense and bushy appearance.
Eyes: His deep set mature eyes are icy blue and piercing. They retain a certain youthful spark despite his growing age.
Height: 6’1’’
Clothes: Zesh’s travelling clothes (which he wears most of the time) are travel worn but still in good condition and are very much non-descript (meaning one couldn’t recognise where they came from without close examination). As a top he wears a plain cloth light grey long sleeved tunic with a green leather rim over a thin white cloth shirt, both garments are fastened up by means of small round buttons which in the case of the tunic are hidden behind the rim. His trousers are loose fitting and made from sturdy cloth the likes of which are more often seen on workers than on scholars. Still they provide relative comfort and practicality. Zesh’s travelling footwear of choice is a pair of sturdy hiking boots. Above all this he wears either a heavy polar long coat of a style reminiscent to those of his homeland, or a very light white overcoat when in warmer climates. Both garments have a hood.
On Zesh’s back is a light but sturdy rucksack containing a more formal set of clothes as well as several books (most of which are the multiple volumes of his own research journal), scrolls, tools meant for both survival and surgery and a reserve of rare and common herbs commonly used in medical treatments.
Skin: Zesh’s skin is tanned to a caramel brown, rough and callused on his palms and the sole of his feet, but relatively smooth otherwise. His ageing face is starting to develop quite a collection of wrinkles. He also has a few fading scars from rather mild accidents (most of which were sustained from falls and scrapes on his travels).
Body Type: Zesh is tall and lanky, except for his arms which are surprisingly strong. His left leg is missing from the knee down, replaced by a wooden prosthetic, which means he is incapable of walking without support from his walking staff, or the walking stick he uses when he’s not travelling.
Image N/A
|CHARACTERISTICS|
[size=11]Personality: Zesh is socially inept, to say the least, not because he is shy or withdrawn, but because he is so open about his thoughts and his opinions. For instance if he thinks you’re an idiot he will tell you. To your face. To him it’s not an insult, it’s a simple statement of facts, something that you have to accept about yourself and correct if possible. He never managed to accept that some things are better left unsaid. He understands why people get offended by his lack of subtlety, but he also thinks people should just get over themselves.
He is also incredibly stubborn, and when he thinks he’s right about something he won’t back down. For example he is quite convinced that being perfectly honest to people and telling them what you think of them without holding back is the right thing to do, and he won’t stop doing it until he finds something to convince him he’s wrong.
On the other hand he is also incredibly open to criticism while at the same time completely lacking in humility and shame. Zesh despises humility and shame, like most other lies people go through to appear polite or refined. He prefers to deal in facts, not in false appearances. If you have a quality or a flaw then accept it, own up to it, and work to maintain it in the case of a quality and mitigate it in the case of a flaw.
He is a remarkably intelligent and learned man. His width and breadth of knowledge come from a lifetime of studying anything and everything. He takes interest in everything, and his curiosity is never ending, almost childlike. He amasses knowledge wherever he goes and he is always ready and willing to learn more. He keeps detailed notes on everything he has learned about, and those notes are contained within his many research journals which he frequently reads over to amend what needs amending. He strongly believes that books are not the only source of information (which is probably the only reason why he hasn’t withered away in Dara’s spirit library). Zesh travels about and talks with strangers as often as possible, hearing about their beliefs and their view on things.
Zesh gladly shares his knowledge with any who seek it. His income comes from his medical knowledge which he uses to help whoever seems to require it. The only payment he usually asks for is food and lodging, but he has sometimes been paid much more handsomely by some of his richer patients. However the manner in which he shares that knowledge isn’t always straightforward. He always tries to teach through discussion rather than coming out and saying something is right, in other words he prefers to allow people to come to their own informed conclusions through debate.
Whenever possible he prefers to stay out of the conflicts between the nations. He doesn’t feel any attachment to any particular nation or state, and he cares little for the glory of any particular royal family or leader. What he does care about are the people who more often than not, constitute the collateral damage of wars. While helping them wasn’t the reason he trained to be a doctor it is one of the reasons he is thankful he did.
Zesh suffers from a rather deep set sense of self-loathing. He hates the fact that he’s crippled; he hates the fact that he is always dependent on others for protection and in a way his obsession with knowledge is both the cause and a coping mechanism for that. His disregard for his own life is a direct result of that self-loathing, as is his heavily self-depreciating sense of humour.
Like anyone else he has his bad days which usually coincide with the occasional bursts of pain and/or discomfort he suffers from his missing leg. His usually impressive patience is cut quite short on these days and his usual blunt honesty turns into cold sarcasm. He deals with these days either by isolating himself from people, or by drinking to dull the pain. The latter of the two methods is his least favourite because he has a tendency to fall in deep depressions when drunk, and he’s always unsure of what he’ll do to himself when inebriated.
In short Zesh is a blunt fellow with a cheery demeanour, a self-depreciating sense of humour, an obsession with knowledge and a bad reaction to pain and alcohol.
Personal Strengths:
Intellectual brilliance: Zesh’s mind is quite remarkable. He is able to take in and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge. However while his memory is pretty damn close to being eidetic it isn’t quite there, which is why he keeps detailed notes on his various findings. Where Zesh’s intellect truly shines though is his analytical skills.
Personal Weaknesses:
Crippled: Zesh only has one leg. His left leg was lost to him in a fire during his earlier years of travelling, crushed under a falling wooden beam. It has since been replaced with a wooden prosthetic. Still Zesh’s mobility is severely impaired unless he has the support of his walking staff/stick.
Lack of combat skills: Zesh has never physically trained for combat. He knows the theory, he knows it very well, but there is a big difference between knowing how to fight in theory and knowing how to actually fight. If he gets in trouble which his mind can’t get him out of he’s forced to rely on the charity of others.
Self-destructive nature: Zesh unquestionably has a habit of causing most of the trouble he finds himself in, practically as if he was seeking it out intentionally. Most of that trouble is caused by his exceptional bluntness.
Hamartia: His stubbornness. Zesh will never back down from his views and his statements so long as he believes he is correct, even in a potentially life-threatening situation. This will get him killed one of those days.
Personal Hero: the knowledge spirits.
Dreams and Ambitions: Zesh is looking for what he refers to as ‘The Truth’. What is that you may ask? Excellent question. He’s not entirely sure himself. Sometimes he thinks of it as the answer to the greatest questions of sentient existence, sometimes he thinks of it as knowing everything. It really depends on his mood, what day of the week it is and possibly what he had for breakfast. In other words the definition is variable. Either way it’s an impossible goal, and he knows it, but it’s an ideal to strive towards.
Likes: cheese, knowledge, learning new things, discussion/debate, travelling, reading.
Dislikes: the ignorant, those who refuse to learn, those who refuse to acknowledge their flaws, rocks in his boots, being dependant, being indebted, feeling powerless.
Brief History: Zesh was born in the year 685AFO to a married couple from the Northern half of the United Kingdom of the Water Tribe. His parents were both skilled benders, and so it was a great surprised when it was discovered that Zesh had no affinity for bending. People went as far as to question whether the boy truly was his father’s child or if his mother had cheated. These rumours faded with time, but they haunted Zesh for many years.
His childhood wasn’t particularly tough, his parents earned their living well and he never was in want for anything, except maybe of a father. Taranek was a prideful man, some would go so far as to say he was arrogant, and he was stubborn. He couldn’t bring himself to believe his loving wife would ever betray him, but at the same time the constant nagging presence of the rumours surrounding his son was hard to ignore. The man often managed to push his doubts to the back of his mind and ignore them, but any time he saw Zesh the doubts flooded back, and so he attempted to avoid contact with his son as much as possible. Whenever Zesh saw his father the man was always cold and distant.
The boy’s relationship with his mother was much less troubled, but his father always was an obstacle between the two of them. Sultril loved her husband dearly, and understood that his doubts were gnawing at him, but she also knew him well enough to know that they would never leave him. Despite that she always tried to be a bridge between the two of them.
Like all children Zesh began his education at a young age, back then evidence of his formidable mind was scarce. Back then it was mostly the questions he asked which hinted at what he would become. Questions most four year olds would neither think of nor care about. Zesh asked them though, and listened to the answer and tried to understand them as best as he could with his limited vocabulary. As time passed Zesh’s questions multiplied, each answer leading to more queries. The questions hinted at his thirst for knowledge, his comprehension of the answer hinted at his intelligence.
At school his constant wondering about the ‘how’s and the ‘why’s made him a bit of an outcast. Most of the other children thought he was weird and stayed away for them, but he didn’t mind. He was much too busy pondering the answers of the adults. Sometimes he would ask the same question to two different people and would get two different answers, and those questions were what made him realise, at the tender age of seven, that grown-ups weren't always right. That was when he began to dive into books, realising that the more angles you got on a question, the closer you came to a full understanding of it.
When he as eight his sister was born. Ariela was a sickly child, but none of the local doctors and healers could seem to help her. They all said that whether or not she’d make it would be a matter of luck. That is until a travelling healer passed through. He assured Zesh’s parents that he could help their new born, and he did. The traveller stayed at the Suasen house for a week, keeping a close eye on the girl. Any time she seemed to be getting worse he would examine her and concoct a mixture which would make her better.
Zesh held the man in awe, amazed at the traveller’s knowledge and at his ability to use that knowledge to help people. The young boy spent many hours talking with the travelling doctor. It was this man who inspired Zesh to study the art of medicine. The breadth and depth of the man’s knowledge and his ability to help people inspired the child. When the traveller left Ariela had gained some strength, and her odds of surviving were near-certain.
He began to study with a single minded determination which he had never displayed before. He used to read a lot about many different topics, never going in depth on a single subject. Now he had a goal, something he wanted to achieve.
While Zesh became more and more isolated from others by his dedication to his studies his sister became the only person he would actually talk to for any length of time. He had grown fond of her over time, and the two grew close, much closer than he was to either of his parents at the time. As Ariela grew older she showed potential as a bender, which overjoyed Taranek.
At the age of nineteen when he felt he had learned all he could from books and theory, he decided to travel the world. His sister, then aged eleven, begged to come with him, but neither he nor his father would allow it. Zesh thought she was far too young to travel with him (after all he wasn’t entirely sure he’d manage to find enough work to keep himself alive, taking his young sister with him sounded a lot like suicide to him). Taranek wanted to keep his only bender child close to him so he could teach her.
Zesh’s travels began in 704, in an age of peace. Zesh expected to find little work as a healer, and initially (i.e.: while he stayed close to big cities) he didn’t. But as soon as he left the main road and veered off into smaller, more isolated villages he discovered that there would always be work for travelling healers. Births, wounds suffered while working in the field and even occasionally helping pick up the pieces after small bandit raids. Armies and law enforcement can never be everywhere at once, and Zesh rarely ran out of work. Initially he asked for money in return for his services, but it always left a sour taste in his mouth to take from poor farmers. Just a few months into his travels he asked for nothing in return for his knowledge than food and a place to sleep. What amazed him was that people were so thankful for his help that they often gave him more than he asked for.
When he had begun his travels he had a high opinion of himself and an eye only for the bigger picture. A few months of travel put him in many situations which changed him. He realised that despite all his studying and reading he knew nothing, and he also realised that the bigger picture is made up of lots of smaller pictures. These two things would constantly be at the back of his mind, and would, over time, change the way he saw things and mellow him out considerably.
Years passed by, and he wandered with no clear destination. He predominantly visited smaller settlements where his skills were most needed, but he occasionally came to the big cities. Over time his renown as a healer and a thinker grew exponentially. At first only the small settlement knew of him by name and from there the word spread, from village to town to city. In 707AFO when the Ullondorian crusade began his fame had grown enough that word of his coming preceded him often.
He eventually came to be commissioned as a private tutor for certain kids by richer citizens. He would never stay longer than a month though, and he only took on pupils he felt he could work with. When he took on a pupil he would try to make them love learning as much as he did, and then he would teach them self-discipline. With these two traits passed on he would leave his pupil, confident that he or she would be capable of doing well if they remembered what he had taught them.
The start of the war meant more work for Zesh, but not before he had to save himself. He was in what used to be the Elemental Kingdom when the Magicians attacked. He’d been helping a small settlement recover from a bandit raid which had managed to ruin a couple of houses before being driven off. He had helped heal the wounded and rebuild the destroyed dwelling. When the magicians attacked the settlement was small enough to be overlooked, but was still completely destroyed as collateral damage in the chaos. He nearly escaped form the collapse of the house he had been helping rebuild, but the debris crushed his left leg, shattering the bone in several places. Several of the people around him tried to pull him out, but to no avail. In the end he had to give one of the less panic stricken villagers instructions on how to amputate the leg and how to minimise the risk of infection and lethal blood loss.
The villagers who pulled him out carried him away from their destroyed village after following his instructions, but most of that he missed as he passed out from the pain of having his leg sawn off. He was later told that they carried him northward towards the Earth Kingdom, and that his group managed to cross over more or less unscathed. Once in the Earth Kingdom he was rushed to a healer who saved his life (just barely). In the time it took him to recover from his amputation he designed a wooden prosthetic which would allow him to stand. While he was learning how to get around with his new wooden leg he tried to help as many of those who had escaped with as he could. He also spent a lot of time teaching adults and children anything they wished to learn about. He had lost the entirety of his notes in the escape, but he still remembered quite a bit.
Several months later, in 708AFO Zesh was back on the road. His brush with death made him realise that he hadn’t seen or heard from his family in four years, and he decide to head back up north. In every settlement he passed through soldiers wounded in battle returning from the war required his help, either because their wounds had grown infected, or because the pain was becoming unbearable for them. Zesh did the best he could for them, but without the supplies he used to carry it wasn’t easy.
Zesh made it back to his birthplace in 709AFO, having been delayed on the road many times. He found, much to his surprise, that his entire family had been terrified. Even his father had been worried; Zesh could see it, even if Taranek would never admit it. His sister had grown into a fine young lady, and a skilled bender. When Zesh decided it was once again time to hit the road again Ariela decided to come with him, after all her brother needed someone to watch his back, and no one could stop her, but no one tried.
The two siblings spent the rest of the Ullondorian Crusade touring the four nations, helping where they could. With Ariela’s bending Zesh’s journey became much easier. By the end of the war the word of Zesh’s skills had spread to the big cities, and he started to be commissioned as a tutor by the rich families of big cities, as with the smaller cities he would only stay a month at most. When the Ullondorian Crusade Ariela left Zesh’s side, she still loved her brother dearly, but she also wanted to start a life of her own somewhere.
Zesh has kept travelling the world, making yearly visits to Dara’s Spirit Library, and to Ariela in the Vermillion Dragon Empire where she has started a family./size]
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