Sigil: City of Doors

Basic Information
Name: Animus Sensbane
Aliases: Bastard, Solus
Gender: Male
Race: Red Dragon
Age: 27
Profession: Fallen Paladin
Languages: Common, Celestial, Draconic, Elven, Infernal
Accent: Draconic

Physical Information
Height: 9' 7"
Weight: 572 lbs.
Body build: Muscular
Skin type: Scaley
Hair style: N/A
Scars: N/A
Tattoos: N/A
Coloring:

[b]Hair[/b]: N/A [b]Eyes[/b]: Amber [b]Skin[/b]: Red [/li]

Mental Information
Alignment: Lawful Good
Philosophy: Love is the most powerful force in the multiverse. Love is patient, kind, forgiving, enduring, faithful, hopeful, and eternal. Love is not jealous, conceited, proud, rude, selfish, or irritable. Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love yourself to be confidant and maintain your beauty to show that you do. Love your neighbors, good and evil, to inspire righteousness. Sacrificing yourself for the sake of others is the hallmark of true passion.
Deity/Beliefs: Sune
Personality:

[u]Avuncular[/u] [i]Feels he's learned life's lesson and is eager to heap advice on any young person who will listen.[/i] [u]Battle-ready[/u] [i]Seeks advice on an upcoming duel with an old enemy.[/i] [u]Lonely[/u] [i]Wants the PCs to be his best friends.[/i] [u]Loyal[/u] [i]Respects and admires the PCs and would sooner die than commit an act of betrayal.[/i] [u]Pious[/u] [i]Wishes to communicate his great devotion to his deity.[/i] [/li]

Additional Information
Gear: N/A
Jewelry: N/A
Habits/hobbies: Listening to Music, Reading, Observing Art
General Health: Perfect Health
Favorite Drink: Wine, Blood
Weaknesses: Compulsive Honesty, Fanaticism with personal Philosophy, Merciful, Reckless, Righteous, Stubborn, Trusting, Red Dragon Instincts

Main Theme:

[align=center]"Love is the most powerful force in the multiverse. Love is patient, kind, forgiving, enduring, faithful, hopeful, and eternal. Love is not jealous, conceited, proud, rude, selfish, or irritable. Love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love yourself to be confidant and maintain your beauty to show that you do. Love your neighbors, good and evil, to inspire righteousness. Sacrificing yourself for the sake of others is the hallmark of true passion."[/align]

My philosophy, developed slowly over the eight years of my life before coming to Sigil, beginning with my "marriage" to Aska and ending with my escape from execution. Though I had come to know some of these truths before that time, my heart had not been ready to acknowledge them until Aska was able to open it. They have guided me in my faith and kept me strong until now, the beginning of my new life as a Sensbane.

I have a family, something I had never possessed before. It has brought an immense amount of joy into my life, but some pain has come with that as well. The greatest joy being my two sisters, Kalina and Gwynnithe, whom I now have to love and care for and they the same to me as their brother; the greatest pain is my new father, Jach, whom is now dead and so I can not share the joy of this new family with him.

I also have found new companionship in my love, Rozalin. I remember how pompous and naive she was when she first came to Sigil, but she has grown and adapted so fast I find it amazing. I suppose I should not be surprised. I saw the vestiges of an adventurous spirit within her from the beginning and it only became more obvious after she journeyed with me, Aras, and Cybil to that wizard's pocket plane. I wish for her to always be by my side and me by hers.

With the coming of this new life, I have decided to write my memoirs in regards to my old life as a bastard and to keep a daily journal to treasure the new memories to come. My memoirs shall be divided into three sections that I feel represent the greatest changes in my life: the Lothario, the Blackguard, and the Paladin. The Paladin shall entail my first three months in Sigil then followed by the daily journal I shall now keep. The Blackguard shall entail my time in service to Obould Many-Arrows as I campaigned with him to develop his orc nation. The Lothario shall contain the largest section of my life, from my birth to the death of Aska. I am hesitant to write this section for it contains my greatest acts of evil, which I would rather forget. However, I realize that in remembering my failings I keep myself from hubris.

Once I have my memoirs fully recorded, I intend to publish them in the hopes my tale of damnation to salvation will inspire others. Granted, this will result in the criticism and hatred of many, but I will not run from it. Let all judge me as they wish. As long as they recognize that who I was is not who I am, I will be content.

[align=center]"The Lothario"[/align]

I've been having strange dreams lately. It all started after the plague ravaged the demons and I learned Sunshine retreated to Mt. Celestia. I went into the abyss and began my hunt on the legions of devils, ironically using the guerilla tactics I used to fight against when I was a general of Obould's army. These dreams are of my past... with a disturbing clarity. I see faces and hear conversations that should have long faded into the mists of memory.

Is this your doing, Asmodeus? Have you sensed the weakening of my heart and now plague me during the little sleep I get? It matters not, for I want these memories. So go ahead and taunt me with my past, for I know what the future to come will be. I shall catalogue these dreams and write a new journal on these pages.

I recall my childhood in that tiny village outside of Waterdeep over thirty years ago. Parentless, I was raised by the villagers themselves, but I was an unwanted burden. Why there had been no one willing to love me, I know not. I only recall the beatings, the screaming, and the molestation. With no guidance, I became a wild child hell bent on stirring up mischief. Eventually, I was chased away from the village, the last straw spent.

With no home to return to, I had to find a way to survive on my own. I recalled the songs of the traveling bards that occasionally stopped in the village. I remembered their songs of the City of Splendors and its many wonders. Bolstered by the promise of a new life, I decided to head to Waterdeep. After sneaking back into the village at night and stealing some supplies, I made my way down the rocky road to the highway and followed it to the city.

Unfortunately, all cities have their underbelly and Waterdeep was no exception. I found myself consorting with thieves and murderers; stealing my daily bread like every other street waif. If that weren't enough, I soon realized I was very different from other boys my age. I was "flower touched," which is the layman's way of saying I had precocious puberty. I developed into manhood at an age well before the norm.

It wasn't long until I found myself working as a courtesan. My rare condition and Aasimar blood allowed me to become the secret pleasure of all noblewomen that desired to taste the forbidden fruit of taboo. On one hand, this allowed me to live a very comfortable life and I was never in want of anything. On the other, I began to loose all sense of self respect and started to become nothing more than a tool for pleasure.

This continued until I met Lady Silvenheir, the head of a noble house that was on the "bottom" of high society. While itÂ’s true she made full use of my services as any other, but she was very kind and caring. She didnÂ’t simply send me away once she was done with me. She would invite me to stay for dinner and sheÂ’d spend many hours talking to me. At first, I didnÂ’t say much because no one ever cared about anything I had to say before. In time, I started speaking openly to her about my thoughts and feelings. And if they seemed stupid to her, she never insulted me for it. She even started to teach me how to read and write. In a perverted way, I believe she thought of me as a son.

However, that soon came to an end. I began to favor Lady Silvenheir and ignored my other clients. I suspect one of them reported Lady Silvenheir, for one night we awoke to find soldiers in the bed room. Taboo was tabooÂ… Try as I might, I could do nothing to convince them to release her. Lady Silvenheir was tried and found guilty of corruption of youth. I remember the crowd gathered for her execution, their voices screaming as they rebuked her. But those voices are drowned out in my memories by her screams for mercy as they burned her at the stack. Lady Silvenheir was the first person to ever love me, and those screams haunt me now as they did then.

*The entry comes to an end and the beginning of a new journal begins, but the dates indicate a time well before the present. It is not complete and there are many blank pages that follow until "The Blackguard" is reached.*

[align=center]"The Blackguard"[/align]

I've never truly had a home now that I think of it. Though I was born in a small village outside of Waterdeep, fate decided I was never to stay in one place long once I reached manhood. I've stayed in nearly all of the Sword Coast's cities at one time or another. Now, here I am in Sigil, a place nowhere in the Sword Coast or even on my world of Toril, for that matter. Toril... I used to think it the center of the multiverse. But I've now learned that there are many "prime" worlds, all of their inhabitants believing their world to be the true prime as did I. But it turns out all of us are wrong. This City of Doors is testament to this truth.

I suppose it doesn't really matter. Whether I like it or not, this Sigil is my home now. I can never return to Toril. To do so would either spell a most certain death or a life on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of those who would have me executed and rightly so. I am a "villain", after all.

The blood of thousands stain my hands. Many men, dwarves, and elves have fallen to my hand. Most of them goodly folk that would have been hailed as heroes should they have successfully killed me. But they didn't. They fell to my blade and were soon joined by the countless others that followed. Despite this, I feel no regret for my past decisions. Killing all those good people, yes, but not the decisions that lead me to do so. It was necessary to stop an evil that was comitted out of ignorance.

It all began shortly after Obould Many-Arrows first began to assault Mithral Hall. Like many others, I heard of Obould's actions and made the journey east with the intent to offer my sword in service to the defenders. Everything changed when I came across a lone orcling in the lands surrounding Mithral Hall. While I had come across and slain many orcs prior to this encounter, this was the first time I had ever seen an orc child. Curious, I remained hidden among the trees as I watched it dance gleefully around a fallen hart it must have captured and slain earlier.

It's glee was short lived as a shout came from the woods and several dwarves barreled into the surprised orcling. They began beating the child mercilessly. The sight of seeing a child, orc or not, being treated so cruely set off a fire in my heart. With a shout, I charged the dwarves. I hewed the head off the first in my path, but the rest ran like cowards, not prepared to face an armed foe.

I turned back to the orcling, now battered and shivering in fright, crouched down, and held out my arm to help him. (Or maybe a her?) Unsurprisingly, the child bit down on my hand and sank it's teeth deep into my flesh, but I took no hostile actions. I endured the pain and calmly looked into its eyes. Several minutes passed and much blood flowed from my hand until at last the child looked at me and its eyes softened. I gently smiled and the creature released my hand and backed away, not sure what to make of me.

I pulled out a healing kit and quickly tended to my hand, then slowly crawled towards the orcling. It bared its fangs and growled in warning and I came to a halt, gently staring into its eyes until it calmed. I then crawled a little closer until it bared its fangs again, and I waited for it to calm again. This continued for a while until at last I was only a few inches from the orcling. I pointed to its wounds and then to my healing kit. Still hesitant, the orcling lifted up its arms and I gently went to work on its bruises. Building enough trust after healing his one limb, the child eased back and let me take care of the rest of its wounds.

*The entry comes to an end, though many blank pages follow until "The Paladin" is reached.*

[align=center]"The Paladin"[/align]

*Several pages have been skipped until the first entry of a daily journal begins.*