Stan was born to a middling merchant family in the port city of Chuazuan, Sutan. By the age of three, Stan demonstrated a troubling trait, the nascent ability to shape graescence. While having a trait is often considered a great boon, Stan's ability to shape graescence was so powerful his parents feared for his life. Faced with the choice of turning their three-year-old son to the Inquisitors, or hiding, they chose to hide.
Sacrificing most of their mercantile business, they moved to a small town a few hundred leagues inland in the hopes of raising their child in obscurity.
Unfortunately, Stan's ability grew beyond their wildest dreams, having formed his first crystal by the age of five—a feat generally considered impossible, no matter what age. Worse, no amount of bribes or threats would deter the child from "playing" with his abilities. The family became increasingly reclusive, hiding Stan from their neighbors.
When his sister was born (blessedly normal), their parents tried to stem the rumors by appearing with his sister instead. This backfired, making people even more certain there was something wrong with the elder child.
Stan was "reintroduced" into society once he demonstrated enough self-control to not reveal his gift. He was ten. The rumors died down when the town saw he was just a normal boy, although many still wondered why he was hidden during his formative years.
The next several years passed without issue. Stan made friends and kept his ability secret. However, once in his teens, he began to experiment behind his parent's back, choosing to share his gift with close friends. The next few years continued without incident while his circle of friends in the "know" grew.
He grew popular, which drew envy and jealousy from those outside his circle of friends. One day, a rival followed him to where he would demonstrate his powers by using his crystal to draw water from a local pond and shape it into fanciful shapes, using them to tell stories, enact battles, or just have fun.
Once the boy's parents heard of it, they immediately sent for the Inquisitors, fearing him a godling. Word spread quickly, and Stan soon found himself shunned by all his loyal friends. They called him a godling, watching him with fear. Several families moved out of town before he could destroy them all.
When word of the Inquisitors reached his parents, Stan fully expected his family would have to move again. But they didn't. His mother was uncertain, not wanting to destroy all their connections yet again.
Worse, he saw in his parent's eyes the same fear and uncertainty he saw in others. They weren't sure. They didn't actually know he wasn't a godling, and they feared he might kill them all.
By the time his mother had decided to move anyway, it was too late. The Inquisitors had arrived.
Stan did what his family could not: he ran.
Physical Description
Almond eyes, black-silk hair, pale face, thin lips, delicate features that bordered on beautiful. Stan has a lithe, effeminate body. A dancer's body.
Personality Profile
Extroversion
Score: 6/10
Stan is an odd mix of extroversion and introversion. He's perfectly at home in the spotlight, soaking in the adoration of an audience. Yet, at the same time, he feels distinctly uncomfortable in crowds that aren't an audience, preferring to connect with a small number of trusted friends rather than play the socialite.
An odd quirk of his personality is how quickly he adapted to being "on the run". There's something about the solitude that he loves.
Neurosis
Score: 4/10
Stan adapts to new situations fairly easily. However, he's obsessed with not killing. This isn't without warrant, however, as a Trait like his is perfectly suited to war. If the Inquisitors don't kill him as a godling, then they conscript him for war. Or the province will. Or the Empire.
Stan's obsession with beauty and form is driven by his fear of becoming a monster of war.
On the other side, he cannot help but compare himself to others. Seeing another perform always makes him feel inadequate, as though he's failing. Every time, he feels he's getting closer to the path of war. So he redoubles his effort to become a thing of beauty.
Openness
Score: 7/10
Stan is quite open to new experiences. In fact, he pursues them. That said, his pursuit of new experiences is directed toward learning new forms of beauty.
Aggressiveness
Score: 2/10
Stan is not an aggressive person. He prefers to avoid conflict if at all possible, and refuses to kill no matter the circumstances.
Ego
Score: 3/10
Stan has an enormous ego when he's performing, yet it collapses behind the stage. His every performance ends with feelings of inadequacy as he falls short of the beauty he strives for, always comparing himself to others whom he feels surpass him.
Character Flaws
- Stan avoids conflict and killing to the point he'll leave enemies at his back. This refusal to address the world will continually cause problems.
- Stan becomes stoic after a performance, hiding his feelings of inadequacy behind a blank face. This can drive others away, even those he helps. He hates being praised after the fact.
- He works well with others only when it comes to the performance, but once the stage is set aside he struggles to connect and resents the imposition of others.
- Being on the run has taught him to avoid close relationships.
- There is a duality in his soul between who he is on stage and his personal life. He feels empty off-stage and doesn't know how to reconcile the two people inside him.
Control
Stan seeks to control the crowd on stage. He seeks to isolate himself off-stage. These are the ways he controls the world around him.
Prose
Stan sees the world in motion, and he finds beauty in the way it moves. His prose should reflect this, focusing on all the little movements in the world. Highlight motion, like the way a leaf flutters and dances upon the wind. Or how rivulets of water flow and merge and split. Trees swaying in the wind. The chaotic motion of a crowd. How a head bobs as it walks. These are all things Stan would notice, and the prose should reflect them.