Simon Torquill

Basics

Name: Simon Torquill Age: appx 400 Date of Birth: c.1500 Gender: Cis male Sexuality: Pansexual & Polyamorous Marital Status: Married (estranged) Species: Fae (Daoine Sidhe) PB: Ewan McGregor Player: Adelai Timezone: MST IC Contact Playlist

Appearance

Hair: Fox-fur red, generally kept short.

Eyes: Honey gold

Complexion: Pale with a light dusting of freckles

Build: Thin bordering on underweight; has sharply pointed ears

Height: Average (appx 5'10")

Personality

Simon Torquill is not a hero, nor does he aspire to be. Heroes have a responsibility to take care of entire groups of people they might not like or have even met. While he has envied the admiration and power being labelled Hero of the Realm brought his twin brother and has felt that he's always lived in the shadow of Sylvester and their late father Septimus, Simon has never felt a true obligation to any besides the people he loves. For those he cares for Simon is the kindest, most self-sacrificing man, doing everything from setting up elaborate matchmaking schemes to get his best friend set up with a hot mermaid, to almost literally selling his soul in exchange for his daughter's return home from a century of exile. This love has not always been returned and has sometimes been rejected or even mocked (primarily by his estranged wife, who rolled her eyes at his affections as much as she lavished in them) but even when he has been well aware he is not getting half as much as he gives, Simon has never really stopped loving anyone who has claimed some piece of his heart.

Unfortunately, the narrowly focused nature of his affection means that to those outside his circle, Simon can at times appear heartless and shallow. When he has been in good social standing, this has been excused thanks to his extreme fastidiousness in his choice of clothing and silvered tongue. He has always been good at working his way through sticky social situations and smoothing the way for the people he cares for who might be less practiced in such matters. His talent for talking his way out of trouble with compliments and clever lies has served him far better than a sword ever would, but also led to many (somewhat rightly) believing he could not be trusted after he began to use those skills to assist Evening Winterrose in getting rid of those who stood in her way by any means necessary. While being mentally manipulated by Evening through the application of magical compulsions and the innate influence all Firstborn have on their descendant races, Simon's general disregard for those outside his inner circle turned to outright disdain that he scarcely bothered to disguise, happy to let himself be turned into a weapon if it meant bringing his daughter home.

While he will often claim to have had little influence on his daughter besides contributing to her appearance, August's penchant for map-making neatly parallels her father's surprisingly bookish nature. He may enjoy making the sort of social calls that had been necessary of a man of his station, but that will change quickly if he is left alone for five minutes and finds an unguarded bookshelf. Knowledge has always been a tool and weapon for Simon since he was a child, and it is one he wields well.

Abilities

Alchemy

Simon is particularly adept at brewing poisons, which was one of his many unpleasant jobs when he was under Evening's command (including having brewed the elfshot he had been hit with before arrival, which he intended for her)

Illusions

Aside from the ability to cast a glamour on himself to appear human when the need arises, Simon is also very skilled at using bits of plants, feathers and other materials to make temporary illusory clothing, along with what the Fae colloquially call a 'don't look here'-a spell that hides the caster and anyone very close to them from anyone who might be looking at them. He is also skilled at seeing the 'threads' that make up illusions and can sometimes break them, with the effort and cost to him depending on the strength of the spell and its caster.

Transformation

Not being a skilled fighter, one of Simon's go-to defensive spells is to transform his attacker into something that cannot follow him or move at all (he is specifically seen transforming people he wants out of the way into fish and trees)

Riding Blood

The common phrase for the skill bloodworking races in Faerie have for tasting others' blood to determine if they are telling the truth about something. He will also see 'surface level' memories/thoughts when doing this.

Ability borrowing

Being a bloodworker also allows Simon to temporarily take the abilities of other Fae for his use (ex: taking the blood of a Tuatha De Danan would allow him to use their ability to open portals between spaces).

***Simon will never use his abilities to ride blood or take abilities without express OOC discussion and permission***

[as a side note: Simon's magical signature currently smells of candle smoke and rotten oranges, although before Evening Winterrose began meddling with him mulled apple cider took the place of the rot. It will be noticeable to anyone who can detect magic when he is casting/has recently cast or when his emotions are very high]

History

Wiki (contains spoilers through the events of Be The Serpent)

Content Warnings

Simon's backstory includes over a century of mental enslavement, part of which his being 'given' to one Oleander De Merelands, a sadistic woman who 'never heard a "no" she felt needed respecting', who left him with both mental and physical scars, causing him to fear being restrained and the act of other people using knives on him. While he publically presented himself as her willing lover, he was never actually able to consent to her as he couldn't actually say no.

He was also the puppet of Evening Winterrose, physically unable to refuse even the worst commands he was given (only managing to defy her twice, and even then it was only by creatively interpreting her requests). During this time he would 'believe' things he knew he would never actually think, mind constantly clouded by her influence. This, combined with the sexual and physical abuse he was enduring at the hands of her other servant, resulted in him dissociating for the greater part of the last century and prone to panic attacks at the slightest reminder of these women. While he will not detail most of what happened to him willingly, they may come up in his internal narrative and he may be triggered by reminders of them and may react accordingly.