Approved Freebooters Bio - CC'ed by the WT

[keyholder21]

DM Handle: Delfon

 

Character Name: John Smithe

 

Character Type: Freebooter (Weapon Score: 1)

 

Place of Birth/Raising: Andor

 

Age: 21

 

Gender: Male

 

Physical Description: John Smithe can only be called average, unremarkable, and most times unnoticed. Standing five (5'5”), and weighing (160lb), with kindly blue eyes, and short close cut brown hair.

 

 

John tends to wear simply cut, but well made clothing, mostly brown and green in colour. He always wears his family signet ring on the ring finger of his right hand. The signet itself is a balance scale with a hollow white circle on one plate, and a black circle on the other. John often walks around carrying a two-finger wide staff which he uses as a walking stick, and for self-defence when needed.

 

 

Strengths:

 

Merchant: Speaking, haggling, and reading people.

 

Peddler: Staff fighting, and survival skills.

 

 

Weaknesses: Afraid of the One Power.

 

Gets drunk very easily. (poison would be highly effective, as would healing herbs.)

Little sense of direction, gets lost fairly easily when not within a city.

 

 

Character History:

 

John Smithe grew up in a middle class noble merchant family. The family estates are located about a days ride from Cairhien. Childhood for John was more of an apprenticeship in the family business, being merchants they owned small shops in several villages surrounding Cairhien, and have one large shop within Cairhien itself. The family has close relations to another local family which travels far and wide as peddlers, this family brought in rare and hard to come by objects, which the Smithe family might sell for a good profit margin.

 

 

John spent most of his childhood travelling between the various shops that his family owned, either with his mother, father or both. After a couple years of observing, and taking lessons after each transaction John was allowed to make is first trade all on his own at the young age of ten. He took a higher profit margin than his father did on a similar sale, even though the trader attempted to badger and bully his way to a better price.

 

 

When John was sixteen years old, he was travelling along the Caemlyn road when his caravan was attacked by brigands. The caravan guards handled themselves well, and drove off the attackers. During the melee, two of the brigands managed to get past the guards, and were working on removing the chains from the coinage chest where the majority of the profits from this trip were being held. John was watching the battle, and keeping the horses calm so they didn't bolt. Seeing a months worth of hard trading about to be lifted, John stepped in with his staff. The training his father had given him paid off, and John managed to hold the attention of the brigands until the guards could chase them off. He now has a hand long scar across his ribs to remind him of that day.

 

 

At the age of eighteen John was staying in Four Kings, at the Royal Inn. The weather outside was terrible, a massive storm was brewing, and the roads would be thick with mud the next day. John couldn't sleep for worrying about the ice peppers that were loaded in his waggons. If the muddy roads held him up too long, both his profits and the peppers would spoil together. Staring out the window of his room he saw a collection of men gathering outside, and two shadow cloaked figures struggling with a window over at the Dancing Cartman. Moments later, lightning flashed down destroying part of the building, and killing or severely injuring the men outside. The site of all those twisted and burnt bodies sickened John, and he had terrible nightmares for weeks. Rumours flowed like good wine the next day, about how lightning struck after the worst of the storm had moved on, some people said that it must have been the One Power. From that day forward, even the thought of the One Power being used makes John get goosebumps.

 

 

Throughout Johns career, two things have been rather constant: One, John can always manage to turn a profit from any situation. Two, John has the worst sense of direction when he's not within a city. Dozens of times John has led his caravan back the way they came, thinking the whole time that he was headed in the correct direction. John's father flailed the wagon drivers and guards both for letting John lead them for a week in the wrong direction before setting him back on the correct path. Put him within a city, even the most confusing, twisting mass of back alleys and streets, and he can find his way as if born there. Remove the buildings, and he could get lost while staying on a main highway.

 

 

Now twenty-one, John has enough money saved to start his own trading company, so he's off to see the world and make a name for himself. Who knows where this will lead him?

[Elgee]

I'm happy with everything on this Bio apart from the name. In main timeline WoT the names of people aren't spelled the same is in our time. This is to highlight the difference in Ages, one presumes. For instance, we have Jon instead of John, Tom instead of Thom, Matrim instead of Matthew. Smith/Smithe ... I suppose that could pass, though really? Couldn't find anything more WoTtish? :P

Here are a few examples of WoT Johns:

 

• Jon Ayellin
• Jon Gaelin
• Jon Skellit
• Jon Thane
• Jonan Adley
• Jonasim
• Jondyn Barran
• Joni Shagrin
• Jonneth Dowtry

I won't NOT approve the bio because of the name as I know I'm nitpicking a bit here, but I AM suggesting a rethink on it. Let me know what he says, Ems.

[Delfon]

This character is loosely based on a DnD character of mine. He was an experiment in the average, so as a joke I called him John Smith. I added the E to change it from the Jane Doe feel. Any way, I'm alright with dropping the H out of John, and maybe adding a y as such:

 

Jon Smythe

 

Thoughts Elgee?

[Elgee]

Lol ... I love that "experiment in the average" idea

I did that with one of my characters, only to be dealt a whopping OP score (we use a random OP score generator). 5 years down the line and I still struggle to play her *shakes head*

 

Anyhoo - yeah Jon Smith or Smythe sounds fine to me. I'll give this the WT stamp of approval, for either surname. Have fun with him!

[keyholder21]

lol. "Jon Smythe" is exactly what I was going to suggest to you this morning in a PM Delfon. Glad you guys gone it worked out :).