Character Avatar: Sullivan Stapleton
Character Name: Cadfael ap Dafydd
Age: 48
Race: Alban (with a d'Angeline influence from a few generations back)
Country/Province: Alba
Rank: Foreign Citizen
Player: Janet
Appearance: Cadfael is a tall, bronzed, well-built man, standing at 5'11". He's thick set, but all of his mass is muscle, honed from years of fights and battles. His short dark hair tops a stern face and icy cool blue eyes peer from oft furrowed dark brows. He's ruggedly handsome and rarely shaves. His skin is covered in woad, signifying his Alban heritage of the Cullach Gorrym, and scars from his many fights; both of which he treats as badges of honour and pride.
Cad's usual attire: Boots - Greaves - Vambraces - armour - Kilt
Personality: Cadfael is a gruff man, given to keeping his own counsel and not saying much. He listens well and observes much, though he does not show it outwardly and when he does speak he is blunt and to the point and often comes across as brutal in his honesty. He has no love for the Terre d'Ange's laws and religion, preferring to go by his own set of rules and obeying his own religious beliefs.
He has his own ideas as to what constitutes right and wrong and follows that regardless of the conventions of society in which he lives, choosing to obey his instincts as opposed to anything else. When he's not fighting, he's drinking or wenching and - if he can manage it - usually does two out of the three at the same time.
Cadfael has a tendency to be strong-minded and stubborn, but can and will change his mind if he thinks its required or a good enough reason has been given. Despite his gruff outlook, he has a dark sense of humour and tends to show his amusement with a snort or a brief smile rather than an outright grin or laugh. Some things strike him as really funny, though they may not appear amusing to anyone else, and on these occasions his mirth is almost startling to behold - slapping his knees or the table, tears coming to his eyes as he guffaws.
He has two prized possessions: A pair of long curved daggers that are kept sharpened to the nth degree (no matter how dirty or dishevelled he is, you can be assured that his daggers are spotless.) and a battered silver hip flask in which he keeps his Uisghe.
History: Cadfael is the eldest of three brothers, he was a rambunctious and headstrong child, always investigating and curious and, as he grew older, his stubborn, strong-minded personality came more and more obvious. His parents, Myfanwy and Derwyn, had their hands full.
Being the eldest he was first to be taught how to fight, often picking his lessons up quickly and practising on his brothers, Cledwyn and Caradoc, when he could. Never a particularly affectionate child, his relationship with his brothers was based on honour and respect - as long as they respected and honoured him, then he'd get along with them.
He grew up from a stubborn, headstrong child, into a stubborn headstrong man - always knowing his own mind and certainly not being impressionable. He did not shirk from fights, though he did not seek them out either. He killed as needed and found no pleasure in it - it merely was what it was.
After a few years of fighting on home soil, and suffering the loss of his youngest brother, he took a job as a hired guard aboard a ship and travelled the seas for a while, learning a variety of languages and honing his skills further as a mercenary for hire and adding to the number of woad tattoos and scars that decorated his skin. He lived this life for a good few years, not wishing to return to his home country, though he did keep to the old religion and faiths.
In time he found himself back on land, travelling throughout Terre d'Ange as a bodyguard-cum-mercenary and was soon hired by a branch the Shahrizai family who paid him a hefty wage to go to Elua and track down and subsequently guard their daughter Abella Shahrizai.
“His brow is seamed with line and scar;
His cheek is red and dark as wine;
The fires as of a Northern star
Beneath his cap of sable shine.
His right hand, bared of leathern glove,
Hangs open like an iron gin,
You stoop to see his pulses move,
To hear the blood sweep out and in.
He looks some king, so solitary
In earnest thought he seems to stand,
As if across a lonely sea
He gazed impatient of the land.
Out of the noisy centuries
The foolish and the fearful fade;
Yet burn unquenched these warrior eyes,
Time hath not dimmed, nor death dismayed.”
Walter de la Mare
Updates:
Cadfael has fallen in love with Abella Shahrizai, and has returned to Alba with her. They are now wed, and are touring the country, Cadfael wishing to show his bride his homeland.
