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asuran_hero[Player name] Cybra
[Age] 27
[Personal Journal]cybra
[Other characters currently played] Chuck / Motorcity /passengerseatdriver, Liz Thompson / Soul Eater / deatheagle, Lord Death / Soul Eater / reaperchop, Princess Luna / My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic / dreampony
[Character name] Vekk
[Age] 22 (approximate)
[Canon] Guild Wars: Eye of the North
[Point in time taken from canon] Taken following the quest lines "The Missing Vanguard" and "The Knowledgeable Asura" along with the First through Third Visions but before "Northern Allies".
[Background]
Vekk doesn’t talk much about his younger years, the only thing that’s definite is that he considered his father Gadd (whom he referred to by name rather than refer to him as family) the bane of his existence. His father was a brilliant, respected, but incredibly reckless inventor, rushing through things and skipping safety measures entirely in order to further his own reputation which Vekk claims is all the older Asura really cared about. For this reason, Gadd hired “bookahs willing to take the risk” to act as his assistants since his own people, though they respected him, preferred to live long lives. Father and son never saw eye-to-eye, Vekk calling Gadd “headstrong, arrogant, and nasty” and Gadd calling Vekk an idiot, a hack, and too timid in his research. Details on the rest of his family are up for debate.
Like his father, Vekk became an aeromancer, an elementalist who specializes in air magic in order to manipulate the winds and even create lightning in various forms. But unlike his father—who was said to know the most about containing mystic energies—Vekk became a master at the Asura Gate network, his knowledge of the gates unmatched. He also didn’t adopt the same Machiavellian tactics that his father used.
Life beneath the surface violently shifted with the rise of the Destroyers, mindless creatures of stone and fire. They were quick to clear the Depths of Tyria of living beings in preparation for the Great Destroyer. Those who weren’t killed were driven to the surface where the Asura built Rata Sum as a safe haven. However, much of their knowledge and technology was left behind. To make matters worse, the Destroyers took over the Central Transfer Chamber, the heart of the Asura Gate network.
The Beginning of the End
Vekk assisted the dwarf Ogden Stonehealer with evacuation. During one leg of the journey beneath one of the major cities of Tyria, they encountered a human hero who'd gone down into the Depths to try and find the cause of the quaking going on above. With no time to explain, he and Ogden ushered the adventurer along with them as they fled the Destroyers and headed north. To ensure they weren't followed, Vekk destroyed the Gate they passed through.
After quite a bit of travel on foot, they arrived at the Eye of the North where the Ebon Vanguard had made their headquarters though most of the Vanguard itself was out on patrol. Gwen, the one temporarily left in charge, showed them the Eye itself: a scrying pool. They'd been trying use it for a long time but had been unsuccessful in doing so. However, the adventurer Vekk and Ogden had dragged along with them was able to use the Eye, giving them a vision of a Destroyer.
Following that first vision, it was decided that an army needed to be gathered. Vekk's suggestion was to go to his own people for their technological and magical aid, but the hero chose instead to go out in search of the missing Vanguard per Gwen's suggestion to locate Captain Langmar and the Ebon Vanguard members she took with her into the Charr homelands.
The Missing Vanguard
Vekk accompanied the group on its search for Captain Langmar and her Ebon Vanguard. Upon finding the site of a major battle littered with the soldiers' bodies, Gwen raged at how the Charr had taken everything from her. Vekk, however, pointed out that there weren't enough corpses to account for all the missing Vanguard and likely that they'd been taken by the Charr instead. He went on to assist in their rescue.
Once the Vanguard had been freed from captivity and the Charr also freed from their slavish worship of the Destroyers, the hero felt drawn back to the Eye to receive a second vision: a vision of where the Destroyers lived though its location remained unknown.
Following this second vision, the adventurer decided to go speak with the Asura.
The Knowledgeable Asura
Upon arrival during a council meeting, Vekk and his group learned of the Asura's plan. It was to have some of their greatest minds lead the effort to build golems to fight the Destroyers: namely, Oola and Gadd. Vekk himself had been chosen to handle the etheric couplings due to his experience with the Gates, but he declined and suggested Renk instead due to his own history with Gadd. With a list of names, he went with his group to go out and recruit each one from their own projects.
Renk was possibly the hardest to recruit in that he agreed to come only if Oola and Gadd, two of the thorniest members of the krewe, did. After they'd evaded the traps in Oola's lab, Vekk attempted to flatter Oola into agreeing to help, but she turned him down flat. It wasn't until the adventurer claimed that Vekk had said older Asura tended to lose their touch that she joined to soothe her stung pride. Gadd, however, was harder to recruit. In order to have his cooperation, they had to help him collect the essence of the Bloodstone located beneath Sparkfly Swamp, a task they succeeded at. With the two most stubborn Asura recruited, the group went back to Renk only to find him under attack by Destroyers. Renk was gravely injured, insisting that they take his unfinished notes back for the project. Despite his issues with Gadd, Vekk stepped in to complete Renk's task.
The Destroyers, however, attacked the site of Project Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation ("Project GOLEM" for short). His part completed, Vekk went to assist in defending the kilns though not without first insisting to Gadd that he put the crystal array in a safer serial pattern than the more powerful but unpredictable parallel pattern Gadd had been planning to use. The kilns were saved and the nearby Destroyer hive was destroyed using the golems produced.
Unfortunately, as the group started to relax and the hero praised Oola and Gadd's work on the golems, Oola arrived with somber news: Near the end of the battle, Gadd was killed in an explosion while attempting to boost the last golem’s power. Vekk was devastated, much to the adventurer's surprise until Oola revealed the familial connection between the pair. Vekk himself performed the funeral, committing his father’s ashes back to the universe and the Eternal Alchemy.
On the journey back to the Eye to investigate its latest call to the hero, Vekk's mind wandered for just a moment which pulled him into Somarium. He spent a few months there studying the dream gates and such before returning back to his world without realizing it.
Upon his return, things went exactly as they had before with no knowledge of Somarium at all. He journeyed to the Eye with the group and witnessed the third vision which showed the leader of the Destroyers: the Great Destroyer itself. Upon this realization, Ogden revealed that the battle against the Great Destroyer had been foretold, stating that whether or not the battle was won, the dwarves would cease to be.
With that grim knowledge in hand, the group continued on to try and recruit the Norn when Vekk was once again pulled to Somarium.
[Personality]
On first meeting, many might expect small Vekk to be a shy, timid creature. However, within moments of him speaking, the listener would learn that not only is he brilliant but also arrogant, rude, and condescending. In fact, he refers to most humans and other non-Asura under the general, unflattering label of “bookah”, calling few by their actual names. If asked, Vekk will very bluntly and unashamedly explain the definition of the term: a mythical, not-very-bright monster with a bellowing voice used to frighten Asura progeny. Despite this, he’s loyal and is a very good friend though one has to see past his faults.
He tends to not be very outgoing and is incredibly cautious with his experiments and magic-based machines. He prefers to take his time and use safer means of obtaining an end result unlike his father before him. However, he’ll willingly wield his aeromancy abilities to protect his comrades, his people, and his research. Especially the last since his people value knowledge over their own lives, considering the worst part about leaving their subterranean homes to be having to leave behind so much of their knowledge.
Despite his brilliance, Vekk--like many Asura--doesn't have much information on the history of his people. This is because the Asura is a predominantly forward-thinking race. Aside from what is recorded with their interactions with the dredge and the dwarves, their neighbors in the Depths, history is not recorded in their culture. However, that attitude may start to change now that they've been driven above ground.
Like the rest of his people, he believes in the Eternal Alchemy, the universal flow of energy and purpose in the world. To the Asura, the universe is one giant machine of which everything and everyone are individual cogs. They seek to understand how that machine works, believing that the race that gains mastery over the machine will gain mastery over all of Tyria.
[Abilities]
As an aeromancer, Vekk is highly knowledgeable with Air Magic. However, because elite skills are so difficult, he'll only know the Blinding Surge elite skill in addition to the normal skills.
[Other important stuff]
A lot of the details on Asura society I'm basing on what's been revealed in Guild Wars 2 since there wasn't much outside of the cutscenes in Guild Wars: Eye of the North.
Also, despite having adapted to using Common, Vekk will on occasion write his personal notes in the Asuran language which is half-structured, half-mathematical. An example of this is here. As for its meaning, your guess is as good as mine.
[Sample post]
[First Person]
Teleportation without a sending or receiving Gate. I must grudgingly admit I'm impressed. I'd like to spend a few hours studying the research that made it possible. Assuming, of course, it was intentional and not, say, a time slip during experimentation for improving Gate travel by my own people at some point in the future.
Actually, that'd make a lot of sense if it was. If so, I'd like to review the data to see what went wrong. It should prove enlightening.
In either case, I need to speak with the krewe chief immediately.
[Third Person]
Vekk was having a very bad day. He gritted his sharp teeth in annoyance at the man at the Gate.
"I'm telling you that I personally have extensive experience with such Gate systems. Most likely more than you, bookah. I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears apprentice. I'm an expert offering to assist you in fixing those offline Gates. However, I need to look at the plans to see where your technology varies."
This was giving him a massive headache. As much as it stuck in the craw of any Asura to have their work taken over by someone else, they understood that an expert's opinion was better than fumbling about blindly. In any case, core credit for the project always went to the original krewe with plenty of credit given to the consultant's input. With the way this man was jealously protecting his Gate System's specifications, it was a wonder that it'd been developed at all.
No, scratch that last part. It was a wonder that the species itself had developed at all. Though he suspected that this mentality had significantly culled the herd. He doubted that it led to much improvement in humanity as a whole.
He crossed his arms and tapped his foot as the man in front of him continued blustering. It was very obvious that the man himself knew very little about the technology he was in charge of other than "Press Button A to go to Destination A". Honestly. What was supposed to happen when they broke down? Praying to the humans' Six Gods that it'd be fixed?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I picked up Guild Wars 2 recently and playing the Asura race inspired me to pick up this old muse of mine. As for why Somarium specifically, it was because of the Gate system which Vekk would be fascinated by along with the ability for him to keep his skills.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Be nice to other players. I imagine Vekk's going to generate quite a bit of negative CR because of his charming personality which could possibly lead to unintended hurt feelings between muns. I want to keep in mind that just because I play a jerk in game doesn't mean I have to be one OOC.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] I have two characters here already.
[Any questions?] Not that I can think of.
[Age] 27
[Personal Journal]
cybra[Other characters currently played] Chuck / Motorcity /
passengerseatdriver, Liz Thompson / Soul Eater / deatheagle, Lord Death / Soul Eater / reaperchop, Princess Luna / My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic / dreampony[Character name] Vekk
[Age] 22 (approximate)
[Canon] Guild Wars: Eye of the North
[Point in time taken from canon] Taken following the quest lines "The Missing Vanguard" and "The Knowledgeable Asura" along with the First through Third Visions but before "Northern Allies".
[Background]
Vekk doesn’t talk much about his younger years, the only thing that’s definite is that he considered his father Gadd (whom he referred to by name rather than refer to him as family) the bane of his existence. His father was a brilliant, respected, but incredibly reckless inventor, rushing through things and skipping safety measures entirely in order to further his own reputation which Vekk claims is all the older Asura really cared about. For this reason, Gadd hired “bookahs willing to take the risk” to act as his assistants since his own people, though they respected him, preferred to live long lives. Father and son never saw eye-to-eye, Vekk calling Gadd “headstrong, arrogant, and nasty” and Gadd calling Vekk an idiot, a hack, and too timid in his research. Details on the rest of his family are up for debate.
Like his father, Vekk became an aeromancer, an elementalist who specializes in air magic in order to manipulate the winds and even create lightning in various forms. But unlike his father—who was said to know the most about containing mystic energies—Vekk became a master at the Asura Gate network, his knowledge of the gates unmatched. He also didn’t adopt the same Machiavellian tactics that his father used.
Life beneath the surface violently shifted with the rise of the Destroyers, mindless creatures of stone and fire. They were quick to clear the Depths of Tyria of living beings in preparation for the Great Destroyer. Those who weren’t killed were driven to the surface where the Asura built Rata Sum as a safe haven. However, much of their knowledge and technology was left behind. To make matters worse, the Destroyers took over the Central Transfer Chamber, the heart of the Asura Gate network.
The Beginning of the End
Vekk assisted the dwarf Ogden Stonehealer with evacuation. During one leg of the journey beneath one of the major cities of Tyria, they encountered a human hero who'd gone down into the Depths to try and find the cause of the quaking going on above. With no time to explain, he and Ogden ushered the adventurer along with them as they fled the Destroyers and headed north. To ensure they weren't followed, Vekk destroyed the Gate they passed through.
After quite a bit of travel on foot, they arrived at the Eye of the North where the Ebon Vanguard had made their headquarters though most of the Vanguard itself was out on patrol. Gwen, the one temporarily left in charge, showed them the Eye itself: a scrying pool. They'd been trying use it for a long time but had been unsuccessful in doing so. However, the adventurer Vekk and Ogden had dragged along with them was able to use the Eye, giving them a vision of a Destroyer.
Following that first vision, it was decided that an army needed to be gathered. Vekk's suggestion was to go to his own people for their technological and magical aid, but the hero chose instead to go out in search of the missing Vanguard per Gwen's suggestion to locate Captain Langmar and the Ebon Vanguard members she took with her into the Charr homelands.
The Missing Vanguard
Vekk accompanied the group on its search for Captain Langmar and her Ebon Vanguard. Upon finding the site of a major battle littered with the soldiers' bodies, Gwen raged at how the Charr had taken everything from her. Vekk, however, pointed out that there weren't enough corpses to account for all the missing Vanguard and likely that they'd been taken by the Charr instead. He went on to assist in their rescue.
Once the Vanguard had been freed from captivity and the Charr also freed from their slavish worship of the Destroyers, the hero felt drawn back to the Eye to receive a second vision: a vision of where the Destroyers lived though its location remained unknown.
Following this second vision, the adventurer decided to go speak with the Asura.
The Knowledgeable Asura
Upon arrival during a council meeting, Vekk and his group learned of the Asura's plan. It was to have some of their greatest minds lead the effort to build golems to fight the Destroyers: namely, Oola and Gadd. Vekk himself had been chosen to handle the etheric couplings due to his experience with the Gates, but he declined and suggested Renk instead due to his own history with Gadd. With a list of names, he went with his group to go out and recruit each one from their own projects.
Renk was possibly the hardest to recruit in that he agreed to come only if Oola and Gadd, two of the thorniest members of the krewe, did. After they'd evaded the traps in Oola's lab, Vekk attempted to flatter Oola into agreeing to help, but she turned him down flat. It wasn't until the adventurer claimed that Vekk had said older Asura tended to lose their touch that she joined to soothe her stung pride. Gadd, however, was harder to recruit. In order to have his cooperation, they had to help him collect the essence of the Bloodstone located beneath Sparkfly Swamp, a task they succeeded at. With the two most stubborn Asura recruited, the group went back to Renk only to find him under attack by Destroyers. Renk was gravely injured, insisting that they take his unfinished notes back for the project. Despite his issues with Gadd, Vekk stepped in to complete Renk's task.
The Destroyers, however, attacked the site of Project Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestation ("Project GOLEM" for short). His part completed, Vekk went to assist in defending the kilns though not without first insisting to Gadd that he put the crystal array in a safer serial pattern than the more powerful but unpredictable parallel pattern Gadd had been planning to use. The kilns were saved and the nearby Destroyer hive was destroyed using the golems produced.
Unfortunately, as the group started to relax and the hero praised Oola and Gadd's work on the golems, Oola arrived with somber news: Near the end of the battle, Gadd was killed in an explosion while attempting to boost the last golem’s power. Vekk was devastated, much to the adventurer's surprise until Oola revealed the familial connection between the pair. Vekk himself performed the funeral, committing his father’s ashes back to the universe and the Eternal Alchemy.
On the journey back to the Eye to investigate its latest call to the hero, Vekk's mind wandered for just a moment which pulled him into Somarium. He spent a few months there studying the dream gates and such before returning back to his world without realizing it.
Upon his return, things went exactly as they had before with no knowledge of Somarium at all. He journeyed to the Eye with the group and witnessed the third vision which showed the leader of the Destroyers: the Great Destroyer itself. Upon this realization, Ogden revealed that the battle against the Great Destroyer had been foretold, stating that whether or not the battle was won, the dwarves would cease to be.
With that grim knowledge in hand, the group continued on to try and recruit the Norn when Vekk was once again pulled to Somarium.
[Personality]
On first meeting, many might expect small Vekk to be a shy, timid creature. However, within moments of him speaking, the listener would learn that not only is he brilliant but also arrogant, rude, and condescending. In fact, he refers to most humans and other non-Asura under the general, unflattering label of “bookah”, calling few by their actual names. If asked, Vekk will very bluntly and unashamedly explain the definition of the term: a mythical, not-very-bright monster with a bellowing voice used to frighten Asura progeny. Despite this, he’s loyal and is a very good friend though one has to see past his faults.
He tends to not be very outgoing and is incredibly cautious with his experiments and magic-based machines. He prefers to take his time and use safer means of obtaining an end result unlike his father before him. However, he’ll willingly wield his aeromancy abilities to protect his comrades, his people, and his research. Especially the last since his people value knowledge over their own lives, considering the worst part about leaving their subterranean homes to be having to leave behind so much of their knowledge.
Despite his brilliance, Vekk--like many Asura--doesn't have much information on the history of his people. This is because the Asura is a predominantly forward-thinking race. Aside from what is recorded with their interactions with the dredge and the dwarves, their neighbors in the Depths, history is not recorded in their culture. However, that attitude may start to change now that they've been driven above ground.
Like the rest of his people, he believes in the Eternal Alchemy, the universal flow of energy and purpose in the world. To the Asura, the universe is one giant machine of which everything and everyone are individual cogs. They seek to understand how that machine works, believing that the race that gains mastery over the machine will gain mastery over all of Tyria.
[Abilities]
As an aeromancer, Vekk is highly knowledgeable with Air Magic. However, because elite skills are so difficult, he'll only know the Blinding Surge elite skill in addition to the normal skills.
[Other important stuff]
A lot of the details on Asura society I'm basing on what's been revealed in Guild Wars 2 since there wasn't much outside of the cutscenes in Guild Wars: Eye of the North.
Also, despite having adapted to using Common, Vekk will on occasion write his personal notes in the Asuran language which is half-structured, half-mathematical. An example of this is here. As for its meaning, your guess is as good as mine.
[Sample post]
[First Person]
Teleportation without a sending or receiving Gate. I must grudgingly admit I'm impressed. I'd like to spend a few hours studying the research that made it possible. Assuming, of course, it was intentional and not, say, a time slip during experimentation for improving Gate travel by my own people at some point in the future.
Actually, that'd make a lot of sense if it was. If so, I'd like to review the data to see what went wrong. It should prove enlightening.
In either case, I need to speak with the krewe chief immediately.
[Third Person]
Vekk was having a very bad day. He gritted his sharp teeth in annoyance at the man at the Gate.
"I'm telling you that I personally have extensive experience with such Gate systems. Most likely more than you, bookah. I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears apprentice. I'm an expert offering to assist you in fixing those offline Gates. However, I need to look at the plans to see where your technology varies."
This was giving him a massive headache. As much as it stuck in the craw of any Asura to have their work taken over by someone else, they understood that an expert's opinion was better than fumbling about blindly. In any case, core credit for the project always went to the original krewe with plenty of credit given to the consultant's input. With the way this man was jealously protecting his Gate System's specifications, it was a wonder that it'd been developed at all.
No, scratch that last part. It was a wonder that the species itself had developed at all. Though he suspected that this mentality had significantly culled the herd. He doubted that it led to much improvement in humanity as a whole.
He crossed his arms and tapped his foot as the man in front of him continued blustering. It was very obvious that the man himself knew very little about the technology he was in charge of other than "Press Button A to go to Destination A". Honestly. What was supposed to happen when they broke down? Praying to the humans' Six Gods that it'd be fixed?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I picked up Guild Wars 2 recently and playing the Asura race inspired me to pick up this old muse of mine. As for why Somarium specifically, it was because of the Gate system which Vekk would be fascinated by along with the ability for him to keep his skills.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Be nice to other players. I imagine Vekk's going to generate quite a bit of negative CR because of his charming personality which could possibly lead to unintended hurt feelings between muns. I want to keep in mind that just because I play a jerk in game doesn't mean I have to be one OOC.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] I have two characters here already.
[Any questions?] Not that I can think of.
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