Character Avatar: Michael Wincott
Video Reference: That Voice
Character Name: Kazimir "Kaz" de Bavelaere
Age: 42
Height: 5'10"
Rank/Title: Apothecary
Race: Mongrel D'Angeline
Country/Province: Terre d'Ange/City of Elua
Townhome Request: Business/home in the Artisan's District: Larmes et Toniques: Tears and Tonics, the Apothecary shop of Kazimir de Bavelaere. The apothecaire lives on the second floor.
Country Home Request: N/A
Player: Merle
Appearance/Personality: It's evident from first glance that Kazimir is of mixed stock. Besides the obvious tell of his often stubbled face, unusual in pure D'Angelines, he lacks that certain fineness of feature that is far more common among them. His face is long and gaunt, his brow high, cheekbones sharp and broad. Somewhat narrow and beakish, his crooked nose sits over a wide, expressive mouth. Eyes almost dark as pitch look out shrewdly from deep set sockets. All of which are framed by long, bone straight locks of rich brunet.
While his face is somewhat striking, his height and build are generally average. Due to sword practice, Kaz is fit, but not in a bulky or obvious way. Depending on his intentions and desires... which are almost always self serving, and often not pleasant... he can either be the most immediately noticeable man in the room, or the one that is completely overlooked. Because there are other things more notable than his appearance. If Kazimir's looks can go unremarked, the same can't be said of his distinctive voice... strangely accented, deeply rasping, sibilant, with a near sinister quality to it no matter the tone or content of his words. Though even that is secondary to the mind and character that lie behind his external features.
Kazimir is cunning, callous and almost entirely lacking in empathy. There are a few exceptions to that last, but they are exceedingly rare. He cares for other peoples opinions only in how they serve him, so he's capable of being charming when he needs to be... or wants to be. Kaz is one to follow his whims, though he's not particularly whimsical. He is at his core a practical creature with goals and ambitions, and the willingness to do what is needed to accomplish them. He does, however, have a cruel curiosity that he has no reluctance to sate, whatever the means or consequences.
Those consequences being up to and including death. It isn't that Kaz is exactly murderous, though he can at times be quite vicious and sadistic, but his work as an apothecary stems from his fascination with how people react to the different herbs, unguents and concoctions one can create... most especially those which are toxic and poisonous, and the ones that counteract them, though he's just as knowledgeable about those with healing or other beneficial properties. So, while he doesn't generally intend to kill people, his experimentation sometimes results in that... and all manner of other torment.
None of which is he particularly concerned about outside of the possibility of retribution for his actions. Though Kazimir is quite adept at constructing plausible reasoning for his activities. Often stemming around the fact that his intent isn't to poison people but to see how poison effects people, and how to manipulate said effects. Including reversing them if possible. And were he ever to face prosecution for his nefarious deeds, his guilt certain, he would be found to be unapologetic. It isn't that he deludes himself into believing some righteousness or service in what he does, but that he sees the world in all its grey glory and simply doesn't care if he happens to dwell in the darker side of it.
History: Kazimir's family have always been travelers. Not to be confused with the Travelers, as though his background is rather diverse and varied, as far as he's aware it doesn't include any Tsingani. Though he wouldn't be overly surprised to find that he's mistaken in that. It all began with a, quite likely unremarkable, D'Angeline couple whose son traveled to distant Vralia to be with his love. One of their children was driven to seek out their father's homeland and back to Terre d'Ange it was.
That child in turn married another D'Angeline, but that seed of wanderlust had been planted. Their daughter found her way across the strait, marrying an Alban man who was a quarter or so D'Angeline. The two came back across the strait, but ended up settling in Aragonia. The son of that union did some traveling, but ended up back in Aragonia to marry his childhood sweetheart there. With her he had a single daughter...
At least that's how Kaz's mother, Tessa, explains her ancestry. All he knows for certain was that she was a poor dancing girl in Aragonia when his father found her. About his father he knew even less. A D'Angeline man named Kaspar de Bavelaere had come, swept her off her feet and left her when he found out she was with child. She considered putting an end to the unwanted pregnancy, even going so far as to find an old herbalist to give her a concoction to do so. But she had put the decision off too long, and though she became deathly ill... Kazimir was born regardless.
Though the boy was born hale and healthy, his mother never quite recovered from the experience, and her days as a dancer were over. Bitter and blaming everything that had gone wrong in her life on her son, Tessa was often cruel and abusive, or negligent at the least. So, for that first chapter of his life, Kazimir spent most of his time roaming the streets of Amílcar's slums. There he learned a lot about the lows that humanity could sink to and their baser natures. Occasionally he would witness a random act of kindness or an example of the goodness... but so frequently were they visited upon those undeserving while those who deserved far more were left to rot... that his child's mind had no trouble accepting that great, unfortunate truth that there is no fairness to be found in the world.
When Kaz was ten, Tessa's luck was looking up. She was seeing a foreign merchant of some means. Not the wealthiest or of the highest birth, but so far removed from her own station -or lack thereof- that he may as well have been royalty. Eventually he spoke of taking Tessa with him when he returned home. She was amenable... thrilled, in fact... but it was her inclination to leave her son in Amílcar when they left. Though Kazimir was a fiercely independent boy, he was practical enough to know that his chances of survival on his own were far from stellar. Despite his youth, he was already manipulative and calculating, and managed to convince them to bring him along. So, before he'd reached his eleventh year, Kaz found himself leaving everything he knew behind to cross the sea.
The destination was Menekhet. While very worldly in some ways, Kaz's education was lacking in others. He knew how to speak both Aragonian and D'Angeline well enough, though he couldn't write much in either, but he knew nothing of the language or culture which he suddenly found himself thrust into. Still, prepared or not, he handled it with aplomb. Tessa and the merchant for the most part ignored the boy and left him to his own devices. Which once again left him on the streets, though now he was at even more of a disadvantage. Fortunately, Kazimir was industrious and managed to make a niche for himself.
Over the next several years Kaz did well, making contacts, earning coin and learning to write among other things. In his fourteenth year, two things of import happened. The first being that Tessa, left high and dry by the merchant and having turned to selling herself to get by, contracted a strange pox. The symptoms mystified the healers and fascinated Kazimir, who found himself more in his mother's presence then than he had been in years. He'd had an interest in herbalism, apothecary arts and other such things for some time, beginning with the intrigue he had about the unusual circumstances of his birth. All of this tied in with the second noteworthy event...
One of Kaz's contacts was an apothecary of decent skill and renown. The man was one of the many who tried to diagnose, treat or otherwise help Tessa, though it increasingly seemed there was no help for the woman. For his part, Kazimir watched on with fascination as the apothecary worked. Noting that some things helped certain symptoms, others made them worse or created knew ones. But that wasn't what stood out so starkly in his mind. He'd gone to the apothecary to fetch a tonic for his mother, but what he got instead was an introduction to the other side of the apothecary arts.
Noticing that there was already someone in to see the apothecary... someone who was conspicuously trying to be inconspicuous, or at least unrecognised... Kazimir hid before he was detected. He'd found through all his experiences that information often had more value than anything else, and could just as easily be bartered or stolen. It quickly became clear what the man had come to the apothecary for... and just as clear why he might wish to conceal his identity.
Poison.
In the next several days there was news all over the city... a minor dignitary had been found dead in his home, obviously poisoned. Kaz dug up every detail about it that he could. It opened up a floodgate of curiosity in the boy. The first step he took in sating it was to steal some of that same poison. He wanted to see first hand the effect it would have on a person... and he knew just the one. Kazimir didn't particularly desire anyone's death, but he knew his mother wasn't going to recover.
It was a small dose, and Tessa didn't succumb right away... but when the apothecary next came to check on her, he knew exactly what ailed her. Rather than being shocked or appalled by what Kazimir had done... as it was clear to him from the boy's fascination with the reactions and the questions he asked that it had been him... he offered Kaz an apprenticeship, which the boy eagerly agreed to. Though the apothecary would swear that the boy didn't seem surprised...
Kazimir had served under the apothecary for a year, learning the methods and intricacies of the profession when the man proclaimed he had no more he could teach Kaz and recommended he go to La Serenissima and find the master there who had taught him. With his mother gone, he had no family ties to keep him in Menehket, and even if she wasn't he likely would have went anyway... so once again, Kazimir found himself going to a new country, a new city. This time, however, he was able to take some time to learn the basics of the language at least before going.
La Serenissima he found to be a snake pit... one in which he thrived, excelling under Master Patrizio's tutelage and even exceeding the man's expectations. Kaz found compounds and combinations that the man never would have thought of, frequently at the expense of some poor, destitute soul he'd chosen to experiment on. After several years, it was no surprise when Patrizio declared Kazimir a master in his own right. But the man saw more potential in his former apprentice than an affinity for the apothecary arts, suggesting that he might benefit from some time spent at the University of Tiberium, even writing a recommendation for him with one of the professors.
Kazimir didn't accept the advice right away, spending several more years embroiled in the treacherous politics of feuding city-states and other such things, traveling around Caerdicca Unitas, though keeping a steady presence in La Serenissima. After a time, though, his intrigue and drive to improve himself, his work and thinking, led him to Tiberium. For awhile he did well there. His sharp, analytical mind was invigorated by the lessons and debates, but his stance on ethics sometimes left the more enlightened minds uneasy.
It was at the university that, by some strange turn of fate, he met Leila de Bavelaere. Not so unlikely a twist as to be his sister, or even a close cousin, it turned out that the young woman was a somewhat distant relative of his. Though it had never been a pressing concern to Kazimir, he nevertheless asked Leila about his father. A chronic wanderer, she told him. Kaspar had gone further and further afield on his journeys until one day he stopped coming back, and they hadn't heard from him in many years. Not the most conclusive of tales, but what little curiosity Kaz had was satisfied with it.
He was much more interested in the girl herself. Their relationship was never romantic, but they grew very close in the years that followed. The only truly close friend Kazimir had ever had, she didn't especially approve of some of his opinions and actions, but she never judged and loved him regardless. And while Kaz wasn't really interested in learning more about his father, he did, however, find his curiosity about that half of his heritage renewed. So, when Leila went to return home, it was only natural that Kazimir went with her.
Two lone travelers, one a comely woman, sticking to the main roads... they made prime targets. Kaz had picked up some swordplay over the years, but when a particularly seasoned crew of brigands attacked them, his skills were hopelessly inadequate. When it was found that they didn't have nearly as much of value as the thieves had expected, they turned their attention to Leila. Kazimir fought... but it was not enough. He managed to save her virtue, but not her life. While he was able to take down a couple of their attackers, most of them fled with what little coin and valuables they'd had, leaving their fallen comrades, the dead girl, and Kazimir with a dagger in his abdomen.
Fortunately, the blade missed anything vital. Though his healing experience was with illness, not injury, Kazimir patched himself up and hied himself to the nearest village. There he mourned and recovered, his harsh outlook on the nature of the world reconfirmed. Even after his wounds had healed, Kaz remained in the village for several months, serving the grateful villagers in return for food and lodging. When he did finally go... it was amidst talk of the suspicious deaths of several local ruffians.
Reaching the City of Elua, he again found himself in the now familiar situation of being alone in a strange land. This one, though, he knew of. He'd been told about Terre d'Ange since he was a child. He knew the tongue, had read of the religion and customs. It was the origin of his father, and to some extent had been a part of his mother's lineage, as well... and it was Leila's beloved homeland. There was something in him, too, that felt as if it wasn't so foreign. So, he settled himself in. Working, getting to know people and making a name for himself in the city.
That was some years ago, and Kazimir now owns and runs a lucrative apothecary in the City with many clients from all walks of life. He still continues his research, always prepared to learn a new method or improve his own in some way... and he will still occasionally experiment on some unfortunate, though he is very cautious about who and how he goes about it. Since the death of Leila, he also has put much more effort into improving his combat training, becoming quite proficient, and played his own small part in the recent wars both as a fighter and an apothecary.
