fade rift app;

[quaestionespatris]

PLAYER

Name: ray! used to go by liz but pls use ray now, ty
Age: 30+
Contact: ragweed
Other Characters: none currently! i used to play Kit Gandir, Atticus Vedici, Fern Dornain and Loghain back in 2017-2018 tho.
Interests: i'm here for CR and plot-focused RP that doesn't move at a breakneck pace, since i straight-up can't keep up with that anymore, unfortunately. i do love all of the examples provided though--action scenes, political intrigue, rescuing lost critters, i'm here for all of it.

CHARACTER

Name: Octavius Vedici--err, I mean, Tavi Rutyer, of the Qarinus Ruyters!! he is definitely Byerly's cousin! absolutely probably!
Canon/OC: native OC
Journal: quaestionespatris
Race: human
Nationality: Tevinter, though he has spent the better part of the last six years living in Nevarra with his mother and her Mortalitasi paramour.
Occupation: in theory, would-be heir to the Vedici seat in the Magisterium; in practice, he acts as the part-time steward of his quasi-stepfather's household in Nevarra City, and serves as a spirit healer where he's needed.
Division: unclear at the moment, would welcome some modly feedback on where you feel he might be best suited
Mage or Not: yes! he is a spirit healer by vocation
Age: newly 25 (he's a satinalia baby)

History

Octavius ("Tavi") Vedici is an Altus mage and heir to his father's seat in the Magisterium. He was born in Minrathous as the only child of Magister Atticus Vedici and his Altus wife, Ophelia Nautia, but spent very little time there as a child, instead returning to his mother's family estate in Qarinus once she was recovered enough from her labour to travel. Qarinus is where Tavi spent the vast majority of his early life, and while he bears the Vedici name and was raised understanding his obligations to his ancestors and his place in Altus society, it was inevitable that growing up so far removed from his father's sphere of influence would result in internal strife regarding his sense of self and familial loyalty. However, this inner conflict did not prevent him from enjoying an otherwise idyllic, albeit rather solitary childhood on the northern coast of Tevinter, where he received formal schooling courtesy of his maternal family, and spent most of his formative years socializing with his cousins.

Tavi was about eight or nine years old when he discovered that his particular magical proclivities tended less towards the Entropy School favoured by the Vedicis, and more towards the Restoration and Spirit schools favoured by his mother. Under Ophelia's careful guidance and tutelage, he befriended a benevolent spirit of Devotion in the Fade, and in the years since has often relied on his connection to this Fade spirit to augment his spellcasting. By the age of twelve, he knew with certainty that he wished to pursue spirit healing as his vocation.

Roughly seven years ago, the scaffolding of his entire world came tumbling down around his ears when he learned, to his horror, that his father Atticus had not only thrown in his lot with the Venatori, but gone and gotten himself and his apprentice, Benedict Artemaeus, captured by the fledgling Inquisition. That Atticus would join up with an organization that seemed antithetical to what few life lessons he went out of his way to teach his only son seemed wildly out of character. Shortly after receiving this news, Tavi and his cousin, Otho Luria, were abducted from the Nautia estate in Qarinus by mercenaries hired by Magister Calpernia Artemaeus, whose intentions it seemed were to keep both Tavi and Otho in her custody in Minrathous until Tavi's maternal family could ransom Benedict Artemaeus back from the Inquisition. Whatever shape these negotiations took, Tavi wasn't privy to them, and was eventually able to arrange for his and Otho's escape from Magister Artemaeus's household. Once free he and Otho fled to Nevarra City where Tavi's mother had been visiting her paramour, Prelate Matthijs van Reede. And while his cousin found his way back to the rest of their family within the Imperium, Ophelia deemed a return to Tevinter was too dangerous for herself or Tavi for the foreseeable future.

Personality

Fundamentally, Tavi is an idealistic young man who is carrying a tremendous amount of anger and hurt within a very gentle heart, which he wears on his sleeve despite his best efforts to adopt the inscrutable, more politically astute mien that he has always observed in his mother. He's earnest and sincere with nearly everyone he meets, at least to begin with, and has a creative spirit; he's drawn to both art and music, though he's only dabbled in the former and is far, far too self-conscious to share what he has composed for the latter. (He does have, and play with proficiency, a mandolin; a gift to him from his mother after he joined her in Nevarra. He would be the first to tell you, however, that he writes music better than he plays it.) By default he's mannerly and polite in most social situations, but a childhood spent mostly in the company of his cousins or "valet" (aka an elven slave raised from birth to be his servant and confidante which, yikes), or retreating into his family's library to devote himself to the study of spirit healing and the fade, left him ill-equipped to manage more fraught political situations.

This shortcoming is something he has addressed to a certain extent while living with the van Reedes in Nevarra City, though it wasn't a conscious choice; socially, Tavi went from being the scion of one of Tevinter's greatest houses for whom his path forward into the future was never in doubt, to effectively a high ranking servant (albeit one who is loved as dearly as any of Prelate van Reede's other children) in the household of his mother's paramour in a foreign country, with no security or clear idea of what his future will look like. Compounded with being so often the subject of rumour and speculation in Nevarran high society circles (e.g., "could he be Prelate van Reede's love child?") for the latter half of his teenage years and early twenties, Tavi has grown more defensive, cynical, and prone to bouts of depression. His chosen means of managing these mood swings is through work, however he can find it: through his vocation as a spirit healer, first and foremost; composing music for his mandolin; or managing Prelate van Reede's household accounts.

However, he has the self-awareness to recognize that these are stop-gap measures, and that the only way for him to meaningfully change his and his mother's material circumstances involves finding his father, and reclaiming at least a portion of what he took from them. (The portions that can be reclaimed, anyway.)

Opinions & Affiliations

Tevinter: it will always be his home, but boy is it a fucked up place! Tavi hasn't set foot within his home country's borders in nearly seven years, and misses it painfully (Qarinus, at least).

The Venatori: Tevinter at its worst; Tavi grew up sharing both his parents' disdain for blood magic, and so views the Venatori's reliance upon it as additional proof of their immorality. related--

Blood Magic: a crutch for the weak-willed and weak-minded, Tavi considers this one lesson instilled in him by his father that continues to hold value.

Mage-Templar War: not quite just a problem for Southerners anymore, is it!

Templars: Tavi never paid much attention to Tevinter templars, as they were defanged generations ago and their role within the Tevinter Chantry is largely symbolic. The Templars of the Andrastian Chantry were effectively the bogeymen of his childhood nightmares; it's entirely possible his older cousin intentionally told him scary stories about them when they were kids just to watch him have a panic attack about it. (thanks, Otho.)

The Qun: a barbaric religion/culture that no one in their right mind would ever choose to adhere to. Tavi feels very sorry for their mages.

Elves: ...complicated. Tavi's closest friend from childhood into his adulthood was an elf named Theovas--who also happened to be a slave in his family's household. Theovas was raised from birth to be Tavi's valet and companion, and while the (many, many) inequalities between them as children were not as apparent to Tavi as a child, as he grew older, it was impossible for him not to make uncomfortable, necessary observations, the sort that only grew more stark and harder to deal with as he grew older and gained confidence in his opinions and values. While Theovas now works in Prelate van Reede's household as a paid servant, Tavi is still sorting through his complex web of feelings about Theovas's place in his life, and by extension, his interactions with other elves.
 

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

• an Altus mage, born into power and influence. He can't wield any of it right now, being on the outs with the current prevailing political forces in his home country, but this is his background.
• he's a formally educated and trained spirit healer, with all the risks and rewards associated with that vocation, including a connection to a Spirit of Devotion in the Fade.
• his secondary skills as a mage involve drawing from the Creation (e.g., healing spells, glyphs and wards, haste, as examples) and Spirit schools (e.g., mind blast, spirit bomb, etc.)
• "dual nationality"; while not actually a dual national of Tevinter and Nevarra, Tavi is familiar with most of the historical and cultural touchstones of both nations, and can of course speak Tevene fluently.
• detail-oriented and good with numbers, a skill he's put to use for the last seven years while living in Nevarra.

Weaknesses:

• ...he's an Altus mage in Kirkwall, complete with all the political baggage that entails.
• as discussed in his history and personality sections, Tavi is a little bit naive, and while he's less easily led than he would have been even a handful of years ago, he struggles with even minor deceptions. Don't make him a spy, it's a bad idea.
• in combat, he is extremely squishy, like most mages, but made even squishier by not having a particularly impressive arsenal of combative spells at his disposal. 
• as a spirit healer with a connection to a Fade spirit, he is more susceptible to demonic possession than other mages might be.
• he is Atticus Vedici's son and heir, and for all that he could not be more different from his father if he tried, that kinship tie could still damn him if it came to light under the wrong circumstances (or the right ones).

Inventory

• A mandolin that was once a very pretty and impressive instrument, but which has been battered by months on the road;
• The clothes on his back!! They were very nice clothes at one point, but have seen considerable wear and tear over the last few months;
• His paternal grandmother's Vedici signet ring, given to him upon her death, which he does not wear on his hand but instead on a chain around his neck, concealed under his clothes;
• Letter of credit from Prelate Matthijs van Reede, which Tavi has not yet made use of;
• Paperwork drawn up by a solicitor that will 1) grant Tavi the right to claim the Vedici seat in the Magisterium; 2) grant Tavi access to the Vedici estate and fortune in Minrathous; and 3) grant Tavi's mother, Ophelia, a good-faith divorce, which will allow her to finally marry her paramour, Prelate Matthijs van Reede, back in Nevarra.
• An unsealed letter addressed to him from Ophelia;
• A sealed letter from Ophelia addressed to his father, Atticus. (it definitely looks like he's contemplated opening it several times though.)

Motivation

Tavi's motivation for coming to Riftwatch is to find his father, Atticus Vedici, for his own deeply personal reasons. He is following a trail that is many years old at this point, but Kirkwall is his father's last known location, and a logical place for him to begin his search in earnest.

(NB: I have confirmed with Hope (Byerly's player) that Tavi is able to come into Riftwatch concealing his identity for now! He is going to identify himself as Byerly's cousin, Tavi Rutyer, a Laetan spirit healer.)

SAMPLES

TDM threads!
PSL thread!