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Félix De Sauveterre ([personal profile] blessure) wrote2016-09-25 07:00 pm

Character Information

STATS
NAME Félix De Sauveterre OCCUPATION L'ami Du Roi (Courtier)
NICKNAME(S) None PARENTS Guiscard and Marguerite
NATIONALITY Montaigne SIBLINGS Gilbert, Orianne, Luce, Bertrand
DOB 06/18/1646 RELATIVES Too many to list
AGE 22 MARITAL STATUS Unmarried
RESIDENCE Charouse SPOUSE None

APPEARANCE
HEIGHT 5'8" HAIR Blond, curly
BUILD Average EYES Blue

Félix's bearing speaks of someone of good breeding, someone who has been taught from a young age how to carry himself in court and the intricacies of Montaigne political life. His manners are flawless and he is quite charming, but he can give the impression of looking ever so slightly down on others. His clothing is rich and expensive, overly so in a way that is meant to make it clear to others that he comes from money and has connections.
PERSONALITY
Félix is very much a product of his upbringing and the events that have shaped his life. A courtier in the rather cutthroat world of politics among the nobility of Montaigne, Félix has learned hard lessons in regards to trusting others and letting people get too close to him. His early run in with Valérian was quite a rude shock to him, as while Félix had started to get used to the idea that he might need to be careful about what he said around whom in court, he hadn't yet realised how very important it was to maintain a facade. In that rather harsh lesson he learned to change how he behaved around others, learning to present himself as charming and friendly when it was required despite how he might really feel while keeping a careful eye open for opportunities to better himself and his position. It's something he took to rather well, drawing on his previous, more honest charm and naivety and turning it into a mask to use to his advantage. It helped in unexpected ways as well, as his naive charm coupled with the murmurs of Valérian putting him in his place made others less likely to see him as a threat and Félix enjoyed the edge that gave him.

But it also means that Félix prefers to keep people at a distance. He can act quite charming and welcoming, and in fact aims to make others feel as though he is entirely open with them, but the reality is that he keeps everyone at a distance and is always prepared for when he might need to use or abandon them to further himself or his goals. He doesn't believe anyone should be upset or hurt by this either; in his mind it's how everyone behaves in the end. Some are simply more honest about it than others.

Another way his life has affected him is that Félix has a dim view of life outside of nobility and those in power. Or, more accurately, he doesn't have much of an idea of what their life is like at all. Montaigne nobility are very distant from the lives and concerns of the commonfolk of their nation and unaware of how their lives of excess impact those below them. In this Félix is no different, he assumes that there are commoners and nobility, those that serve and work for a living and those that do not, and that this is the natural order of things. His way of talking with those he believes would be in a lower social position to him is therefore a bit different than with other nobles. He tends to be less guarded, believing that they wouldn't know how to engage in political games as their superiors do, and can be more honest because of that. In Wheldrake's Crossing, he was still quite charming towards one of the serving girls who worked at the tavern they'd been staying at, but it was more genuine and caring than he might have otherwise been as he saw her as a poor scared girl who needed someone to keep an eye on her until she could be safely delivered to her family.

In other situations, he tends instead to be more overbearing and callous, as he's used to treating servants as help that will jump at whatever he asks and can get sharp and even mocking if he believes that they're challenging his authority. This is also something he's learned from l'Empereur as well and when he was younger Félix had believed that he was someone to aspire to be like. As he's gotten older, Félix still strives to get the best position he can as does everyone else in l'Empereur's court, but his experiences in Wheldrake's Crossing, particularly seeing how hands on Lady Drake is and how much the people like her, has started to make him wonder if there are other ways to lead a country and if l'Empereur's way is really the right way.

This speaks of Félix's curiosity, something he hasn't managed to shake despite how much trouble is has landed him in before. It's a double-edged sword in his life; it means he's good a picking at things to find out reasons and information that might turn out to be beneficial to him or others, but it also occasionally leads to him taking dangerous risks in order to learn something new. A prime example of this is his using the cultists' scrying bowl. While others would likely draw the line at bleeding into a bowl that's already full of blood, Félix reasoned that it's no different from his own magic already and might allow him to find out something about the cult that attacked them.

Finally, while Félix is not above pretending to get along with people or using information he learns about them to his advantage, he draws the line at doing real damage or killing people unless he has absolutely no choice. He will kill to defend himself if it comes down to it and is skilled in using weapons as well as his particular form of magic, but he holds himself back instinctively from trying to harm or ruin others if it isn't necessary, even if it might make matters easier for himself. In his mind, that would bring him too close to Valérian's level or worse, and he cannot allow himself to fall that low.
ABILITIES & SKILLS Sorcier Porté
Félix is a Porté sorcerer, meaning he can use his magic to open holes in the fabric of the world itself, allowing him to bring marked items to himself or for him - and potentially others with him - to travel to a marked location.

Porté is something of a disconcerting power to see in action, as it is reliant on the caster spilling their own blood. To mark an object or a place, Félix has to use a little of his own blood and forge a connection to the item or place that he can later draw on to open a portal to. Opening such a rift in the world requires blood; Félix needs to cut himself deeply and bleed to create his portals, and if that weren't disconcerting enough, there's the sight of the holes themselves for they are vivid red wounds in the fabric of the world itself and the sounds of thousands of screams can be heard from them.

As stated earlier, there are two ways Félix can use his magic, one is to pull an object to himself, though this must be an item he has previously marked with his blood and that he can easily pick up with one hand. The other use is to open a portal large enough for himself and possibly others to travel to a marked object. This is not only dangerous in how much Félix needs to bleed to open the portal but also in the travelling itself. Anyone who enters the portal must keep their eyes closed at all times and not stop moving towards the exit. Failure to do so, opening their eyes or stopping, results in the person being trapped in the portal forever. There is no escaping this fate if those rules aren't followed, no sorcier who has opened their eyes or remained in the walkway for too long has ever survived. And just to make it interesting, there are things in there that will try to tempt the sorcier or those with them to break those rules, as any passing through the walkway will hear voices whispering, begging, trying anything to tempt them to open their eyes in the Place Between Worlds.

Non-Magical Skills
Aside from his magic, Félix is also a skilled linguist and is familiar with all the languages of his native world and quick to pick up other languages as well. It's a skill that he keeps to himself to an extent, preferring others not be aware that he might understand exactly what they're saying when they think him unaware. Furthermore, he is trained in how to fight with both his rapier and a crossbow, although he is not the most skilled with either weapon, he can defend himself if it comes down to it.
HISTORY
Born the fifth child to a minor noble house, Félix's life wouldn't have been particularly notable if it hadn't been for his gift for Porté. Noticed at an early age for proving stronger than his siblings in the craft, Félix quickly attracted some attention from more skilled sorciers and was offered better training opportunities, opening paths for him that may not have otherwise existed. Furthermore he was lucky enough that, once his skills had improved and he'd matured, he was presented to the court of l'Empereur Léon Alexandre in Montaigne.

This is not to say that it was an easy path for him however. From the beginning Félix faced difficulty making his way in court. His family was looked down on for their lower status, not having much land of their own, and the fact that his parents had had five children was seen as a faux pas as well, as most others had only two children. Félix was reminded often by pretty words and carefully edged comments that if it weren't for his gift, he would have amounted to very little in his life and would have been lucky to marry into a position of power.

But rather than letting the words cut him down, Félix pushed himself to learn better than his peers, to hone his abilities and prove to be both skilled and intelligent. He took to politics surprisingly well and had enough of a grasp of charm to ingratiate himself with others who were willing to educate him further in turn.

This was how he came to eventually cross paths with Valérian Lesauvage, the favourite of l'Empereur. Having heard of Félix's rise, Valérian arranged to meet the younger man and showed Félix favour and interest that dazzled him. He knew that Valérian was powerful and made the mistake of thinking that they were friends as the older man seemed to enjoy behaving like a mentor to him. Any murmurs Félix may have heard that Valérian was only ever interested in what might benefit him fell on deaf ears, as he convinced himself that this was different.

It was not. Valérian simply lead him along until he could get enough of a measure of Félix to know exactly how to undermine him, and when the opportunity came, he embarrassed Félix before much of the court, causing him to fall from favour and almost driving him back home entirely. But Félix refused to allow himself to be defeated so easily. He took the lesson to heart and vowed not to allow anyone close enough to undermine him again, pushing himself to fight to get back every bit of respect and power he'd lost at Valérian's hands. He began using his Porté skill more creatively and carefully as well, coming up with elaborate ways to gain access to the private secrets and important items belonging to his rivals, even going so far to make it seem as though a thief had ransacked their homes at times. But while Félix was willing to do such things to further himself, he drew the line of damaging anyone too badly unless they had proven, in his mind, that they deserved it.

Valérian was, of course, someone that he did believe deserved to be taken down several pegs and Félix made it his mission to tease out what information he could on the older man, all while playing at seeming thoroughly cowed by his lesson and as though he was content at his current, unremarkable status. It took some time, for months Félix stewed and kept his head down and searched for something he could use against Valérian. And eventually luck was on his side and he stumbled across what seemed to be an illicit relationship between the other man and someone of lower rank. Seizing on the moment a bit too eagerly, Félix immediately tried to turn it to his advantage, not considering how easily Valérian went with his belief of a relationship. But the truth of the matter didn't matter as much; in the end Félix got what he wanted and Valérian backed down, retreating from court and allowing Félix to make good on several other connections and advantages he had gathered. Without the barrier in his way, he rose quickly in social status and impressed l'Empereur himself, quickly becoming the new darling of Montaigne.

Life was good, though a part of Félix still felt oddly uneasy about his situation, and he attempted to counter the feeling with continuing to gather information to use against others if needed, always feeling he needed to look over his shoulder. He welcomed the chance for a break of a sort then when l'Empereur requested that Félix travel to Wheldrake's Crossing to visit another noble, Lady Drake, as a subtle reminder of l'Empereur reach and interest outside of Montaigne. It was in Wheldrake's Crossing that Félix's life took a sudden and unexpected turn when he and several others spent the night in the local tavern and it suddenly collapsed in the night, dropping into a hidden network of caverns under the town. The small party banded together to make their way out of the caverns and discovered that there appeared to be a cult operating under the town. Forced to fight for their lives, the group killed the cultists but were unfortunately unable to figure out what they had been trying to do. Investigating the caverns more thoroughly the next morning didn't yield many more answers, though Félix was drawn to investigate the scrying pool that the cultists had been using. Seeing it was full of blood and familiar with bloodletting in magic, Félix took a rather large risk and cut his hand, allowing the blood to drip into the bowl as well. Upon doing so, he heard a whispering woman's voice address him, saying "you found me", and felt a cold hand on his.

Unsettling as it might be, Félix hid the occurrence from the others, both because whispered voices aren't that unusual for his type of magic and because he prefers to wait and see if it might be worth keeping that information for himself.
MISC. NOTES
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